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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




REV. ALEXANDER HERRITAGE NEWTON, D.D. 



OUT OF THE BRIARS 

^ cAn cAutobiography ^ 

AND = 



Sketch of the ^Tkventy-ninth ^^giment 
Connecticut Volunteers 




"By A. K NEWTON. D.D. 

Member of the New Jersey Annual Conference 
of the A. M. E. Church 

With Introduction by Re-v, J, P. Sampson, D, D. 

PRICE $L25 



Printed- By ' 

THE A. M. E. BOOK CONCERN 

.l^mxttre nnii $itbHet;rra 

631 Pine Street 

Phila.. Pa. 

1910 



Copyrig/it, igio 

Hy Rev. A. //. Xezvlou 



©ClA27ni52 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

TO THE MEMORY OF AW DEAR 

CHILDREN AND TO MY WIFE 

LliLi; L. NEWTON 

— ]lv the Author. 



(Eoutrnta 



Page 

Preface vii 

Introduction xi 

My Life — Ante i'ellum 17 

My War Record and Sketch of the Twenty- 
Ninth Regiment, Connecticut Vohuit'eers .... 29 

My Ministerial Lite and Labors gi 

The Churcli; What It is. And what li Should I'.c. 147 

The Negro Problem 159 

Sermons 1 75 

Articles and Contriltutions 229 

Resolutions, Etc 255 



Ctat of JUitstratious 



Pag« 
Rev. Alexaiuk-r ITerritago Xewtnii Fr<mtispieoi. 

Rev. J. P. Sampsuii, D.l) ti 

A. II. Ncwtrm in Military I'niform 29 

Col. W. I'. Wuustcr 3.^ 

Rev. I. J. liill 43 

Bethel A. M. E. Church, W.HKllmry 71 

Rev. Alexaiuk-r II. Xcwtnr, — A young Pastur ... Qi 

Bishop Jabcz P. Canip])e!l D.D.. L.L.D 05 

Rev. Theodore Ciould, D.l) 07 

Bishop William Paul (Juinn. D.D qq 

Bishop John M. I'.rdwn. D.D., D.C.L 115 

Re\-. J. W. Cooper 117 

Macetlonia A. M. l*.. Church, l';r.i;lcii im 

Bishop Henry M. Turner, D.D iJ7 

Rev. Joseph 11. Monjan 14.? 

Rev. Samuel G. Miller. D.D I47 



Itfrcfarc 



With no intentioii on m\- ]iart to ever put in 
book form any matter concerning myself, many 
\oars ago I began keeping a daily account of the 
incidents of my life. I entered into this work 
conscientioush' and let no day pass over my head 
without its record. 1 did this that I might im- 
[)rove myself and also provide for myself, family 
and friends, a record and reference. This work 
has grown into three large volumes. I have 
found this voluminous diary very valuable <»n 
many occasions, not only to m^'self but to many 
others. 

My comratles of the grand old Twenty-ninth 
Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, have fre- 
quentlv written me regarding persons and inci- 
dents of the Civil \\'ar, and brethren of the min- 
istry have frequently considted me through this 
diarv for valuable information. This has led me 
to the conclusion that this knowledge would be 
more valuable and in better shape in published 
form. 

So I determined that 1 would undertake the 
work of publishing my autobiography not in any 

\ ii 



^iii PRJ:PACE 

egotistical sense, but as an humble service to my 
race and an inspiration to the young people of 
my race. 

I have named the book, "Out of the Briars," 
because the figure is a befitting one in my own 
life. Although free bom, I was bom under the 
curse of slavery, surrounded by the thorns and 
briars of prejudice, hatred, persecution and the 
suffering incident to this fearful regime. I, in- 
deed, came out of the briars torn and bleeding. I 
came out of poverty and ignorance. I did not 
have any of the advantages of the schools. I 
learned what little I know by listening to the edu- 
cated white people talk. I picked up a great deal 
in this way. 

I am sure, therefore, that this volume will be 
read with the kindly spirit in which it is written. 
I have told my life story, and am now seventy- 
two years on my journey through this world. I 
have but a few milestones further to pass, or it 
may be, not one more; but at any rate, the chap- 
ters of my life are about closed and I am ready 
at any time to answer the call of the Captain ot 
my salvation. 

I sincerely trust that this book will become aii 
inspiration to the young men and women of my 
race, that they may copy my good qualities and 
shun my weaknesses. If, in a small way, this su- 
j)reme end is accomplished, I am amply repaid. 



IMIEFACF, iv 

I desire to acknowledge my obligations to the 
Rev. Samuel G. Miller, "D.D., Rev. 1. W. L. 
Roundtree, D.D., Rev. C. A. A. Greene, B.S.T.. 
Rev. J. P. Sampson. D.D.^ Rev. George E. Bivin-. 
D.D., Miss Alice MacParland, and . my wife 
Lulu L. Newton, without whose encouragement, 
inspiration, advice and assistance, this book wouI.{ 
never have been written. 

"Take my life and let it be, 
Consecrated, Lord to Thee." 

Alexander Herritage Newton, D.D. 



Rev. Dr. J. P. Sampson, a friend and contem- 
porary, Avhose picture we present, though at that 
time a junior among them, he stood in the front 
ranks with (leo. M'atkins, Douglas, Garnett, 
Langston and I'hinijjs as an advocate for free- 
dom, not only with eloquent speech but through 
his pioneer journal, TJic Colored Citizen at Cin- 
cinnati, making' it possible for hundreds, some 
of whom at that time were slaves, since, them- 
selves leaders, now declining, but who took their 
lessons from these men. he was largely depended 
upon by the anti-slavery leaders: scholar, author 
and advocate for civic righteousness, an exem- 
])lar and teacher, a standard for those who fol- 
lowed, an old guard, whose life with others are 
full of achievement, yet still active, cheerful and 
hai)i\v, editing "A Jolly People." among other 
lx)oks, running thousands every }'ear, few col- 
ored men are better known. lie has the largest 
charity for an enemy, matures gracefully and 
without asperity : he has given his life of useful 
service to God and the race. A graduate from 
two or three of our greatest colleges, especially 
in theology and law, and filling for some years 
various positions of lionor and trust in the civil 
service of the government, subsequentl}- giving 
up all secular ])rospects, he entered and has been 
tor nearlv fortv vears in llie active ministry of 
the A. M. v.. Ghurch. 




REV. J. P. SAMPSON, D. D. 



Jutruburtinu 



To be requested to write an introduction to a 
l>^ok implies some acquaintance with, confidence 
ill, and respect for, the writer thereof, oti the part 
of the author of the book. Some authors sohcit 
such a service because of the prominent position 
of the writer, rather than the thorough acquaint- 
ance which he has with the author. This may 
liring- an added value to the book and some of the 
glow of honor to the author. But in this case, 
we are sure that the author of this book in no 
way sought such distinction or comi)liment; for 
like himself, the writer of this introduction, has 
come out of the same circumstances and condi- 
tions, and by the grace of God and his common 
sense, is what he is. Dr. Newton has selected a 
lifelong" friend, a comrade in the toils and trials 
of this world, a co-worker in the great and com- 
mon cause of humanity, and a brother-minister 
in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to present him and 
his autobiography to the public. We were boys 
together, and he was a schooliuate of my broth- 
ers, J. B. K. and Jos. Sampson, being taught by 
John Steward Stanley, and from that time to this 
good dav, we have known each other as brothers. 



TNTIinnrCTrON 



Dr. Xewton's life has been, what we call a suc- 
cess, neither rich nor poor, but of easy circum- 
stances. This is to his credit, for a man of our 
race to be on the middle ground iK-tween riches and 
poverty, proves that Dr. Xewton has been a great 
economist in the things of value, such as money, 
time, ability and opportunity. He has wasted but 
little and husbanded what he had. We are often 
tempted to make wealth the basis of our great- 
ness, but Dr. Xewton has sought a much grander 
foundation, that of serving his fellowman. He 
is, therefore, ending his life career, not in sullen 
disappointment and poverty, not in the gloated 
greed of one dying rich, but with the conviction 
that he has done his work well and fought a gooil 
fight and that there remains for him an inherit- 
ance, incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not 
awa\-. The doctor has grown old gracefully. He 
is active in his labors, cheerful in his disposition, 
buoyant in his hopes, and confident in his faith. 
He is more than three score and ten young, not 
old ; and he looks with the eye of a conqueror to- 
ward the glowing sunset of his life battles. 
Everv dav that he lives ad<ls new joys to his 
ho])es of a glorious immortality i)c}(m(l the vale 
of tears. 

This autobiograi)hy is the outgrcjwth of Dr. 
Xewton's carefully kept diary. It is the fruit of 
this life tree of his doings. Therefore, it is verv 



IXTKODICTTOX 



valuable as tiie real unfoldment of a real life of 
constant action, habit and conduct. It is the 
practical realization of the ideals of the author — 
this indeed, makes it a real and true monument of 
his life. Some of these ideals made real, are a 
true and genuine charity ; devotion to duty ; a 
high sense of morality ; a love of humanity ; a 
loyalty to government ; a hatred of sin and evil : a 
diligence in business ; a faithful husband, father 
and friend. Like Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, 
he was too great to be little, and too humble to 
be great. He always seemed to be less than he 
was, the fulfilment was greater than his promises, 
the work greater than the plan. He was always 
the champion of the down trodden and the op- 
pressed. He was ready to enter their cause with 
an army and to die with others for their welfare, 
or to go alone to his death. In all issues of right 
ag"ainst wrong, Dr. Newton has been a Daniel. 

After his war career, in 1872, Dr. Xewton en- 
tered the ministry of the African Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, in which he has labored most faith- 
fully to the present time. He has been a most 
successful preacher of the Gospel of Christ, and 
great builder of churches, in their membership 
and edifices. The Church never had a better Pre- 
siding Elder, beloved by all the pastors of fine 
executive ability and sympathetic and wise in his 



INTKODICTION 



advice. He has had a remarkable success during 
the forty years of his ministerial life. 

Before the war, Dr. Newton was a member of 
the Alx)lition Movement antl did some daring 
<leeds in liberating slaves. From that time on, he 
has been the faithful friend of the race, seeking 
in every possible way, to uplift them. He has 
ever been the staunch advocate of higher educa- 
tion for the masses and especially of the ministry. 
During- the war, as his record herein shows, he 
was a daring soldier, doing what he could on the 
battlefield to liberate his race. 

He was the trusted adviser of all his Bishops, 
Past Masters of Thirty-third Degree Masons, 
Supreme Prelate of the Supreme Lodge of the 
Knights of Pythias of North America, South 
America, Europe, Asia. Africa and Australia ; 
Commissary Sergeant in the Civil \\'a.v ; in all 
these functions of service, he proved himself a 
w.orthy officer and servant. 

Like Booker T. Washington, he has come up 
out of great struggles and trials and has made 
himself strong thereby. He educated all his chil- 
dren in the schools and colleges of our country ; 
bought his own home and was successful in busi- 
ness lines, and last but by no means least, at the 
age of 70 years, enteJ'ed the Bible College of 
Philadelphia and coni])leted the regular course in 
that institution, uKistering New Testament Greek, 



IXTlJODrCTJoN 



Helji'ew, ^lental rhilosophy. and the regular 
studies of the course. In 1909 he was honored 
with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the 
same institution, a most befitting honor for such 
a man and such a hfe. 

"Out of the Briars'' ought to be a great inspi- 
ration to our young people, a real monument to 
this great man and great life, and a legacy of 
value to the race. Dr. Newton is an uncrowned 
Bishop, yet a real Bishop. He has been my faith- 
ful and consistent friend through all the ups and 
downs of my life. In poverty, adversity, in the 
times of need, he has been the friend, indeed. 
Whether as chaplain of a State Legislature or the 
humble' pastor of a small church, he has been the 
same great man of God. 

This book will be an ornament to every library 
as well as a most valuable acquisition thereto. 
"May his tribe increase," is my prayer, and may 
our people follow this heroic and noble leader, to 
whom he has given his life of faithful, constant 
and unstinted service. 

J. P. SAMPSON, D.D., 
P. E. Boston District. Asbury Park, N. J. 

Mciy 15. T910. 



Antr-SfUum 



iCitV — AutP-lrUum 



I was born in Xewbern, Croven st., Craven 
County, N. C, Xovember the first, 1837. I was 
born under the regime of slavery, a free child. 
my mother being- a free woman. My childhood 
was the ordinary child life, of the colored chil^ 
dren of the South. As a mere child. I looked 
out upon the world as beautiful and felt that all 
men and women wqvq good and kind. I did noit 
know of the distinctions, classes, conditions and 
grades of mankind. But as I grew older these 
distinctions w'ere forced upon my tender heart 
and burned into my mind. I gradually came tt> 
realize my said condition, although fi'ee, and the 
sad condition of my race. Aly father was a 
slave, so that in my family, I learned wdiat 
slavery was, I felt its curse in my bones and 1 
longed for an opportunity and the power to. 
play the part of a Closes in behalf of my people. 
I suppose that this was the wild dream of every 
child born during slavery. The awful condi- 
tion of my people, the steel shackles of slavery, 
the slave block of the market place where hit>- 
bands and wives, parents and children, were- 

19 



oVT OF TII1>: r,lUAR8 



ruthlessly torn apart and scattered asunder, the 
shipping post, the slave quarters, the inhuman 
restrictions, such as denial of our own religious 
privileges, no ministers or churches of our race, 
no educational advantages to speak of, no so- 
cial freedom among ourselves, these were some 
of the unspeakable conditions of my childhood 
life. But there was the bright and happy side 
-of my life wdien a boy. With the thoughless- 
ness, the happy-go-lucky spirit of the boy, I 
•entered into those plays and pleasures which 
rniake up the pastime of youth. I recall the 
.many bo}s and girls, both white and colored, 
who were my mates in games and pranks. Like 
?,11 boys, I had my little adventures, which were 
not always on the side of the right. One of the 
first practical lessons, I believe the first, that I 
ever had reganling the sterling worth of my 
mother I most vividly recall. Together with 
some other boys, we w^ere guilty of stealing some 
peaches. It was not the proverbial watei melon 
tliis time. Fortunately we wc'-e cauglit by the 
-j^roprietor of the orchard. It would be for- 
tunate if all thieves were caught. T vvas taken 
in charge. I began to cry vigorously. I was 
asked what I wanted done with mc. I begged to 
'be taken home to my mother. This request was 
granted. Soon I was facing my mother. The 



>[Y IJFK— ANTIM'.KI.Ll'M -^l 

gentleman told her of mv offense. I expected, 
of course, that my mother would in some way 
intercede and waited with breathless expectation 
for some defense or some excuse or some re- 
lease from my awful predicament. But my 
heart sank within me when she said to the man, 
"I have no thieves in mv family." So I was 
led away to face some fearful ordeal, I knew not 
what. W'hen a boy's mother turns against him 
for his evil-doings, there is no hope for him. 
]')Ut my tears, cries and youth touched the man's 
heart and after leading me away from home 
towards the jail for a distance, he released me 
with some good advice. I learned in that wrong- 
•doing that I need never expect my mother to 
uphold me in the slightest departure from the 
right path. It was a wonderful lesson and I 
doubt not, had a fine effect on my entire life. 

I recall another experience which was much 
more severe in a physical way. I was bound out 
to a white man, Jacob G. Gooding, and placed 
under his foreman, Henry E. Bryan. I was 
■ordered to carry a bench some distance. Then 
the devil said to me, "You are not a horse, why 
should you be doing the work of a horse?" I 
said to myself, this is true. So I decided that I 
would not do the work of a horse. Well, he 
soon came to see what the trouble was and 



ol T OP TTTE BRIARS 



found me and tlie bench together. He wanted 
to know why I had not obeyed his orders, I 
told him that I was no horse, that he could get 
a horse and cart and have that bench taken 
where he wanted it. We were soon in each other's 
embrace engaged in a street fight. We were ar- 
rested and tried and sentenced to a whipping. 
Well, I was in for punishment, and being a free 
boy, the slave overseer nor his master could 
]uinish me. I was reported to my employer. The 
punishment decided on was forty lashes saye 
one. So I was stripped and my emplo}er plied 
the lash thirty-nine times. My back was lacerat- 
ed and very painful and for three weeks I was 
unable to do any work. I suppose that I could 
have gone to work sooner, but I was determined 
that my punishment should cost my employer 
something as well as myself. It cost me thirty- 
nine lashes and the suffering and it cost him 
the loss of three weeks of my labor. This is 
but an illustration of the manner in which the 
colored people, even the free-born, were gen- 
erally treated for their offenses. They were treat- 
ed frequently worse than the brutes. For they 
knew that the Negro had enough intelligence to 
understand wliat his punishment meant and that 
the purpose of it was to reduce and keep hini 
in perpetual servitude. This, of course, had to- 



:m y lifp:— ante-belli' ^r 



be done by mere brute force. But as the result 
of slavery there were many young men of the 
race who learned well some trade. They were 
apprenticed, ias in my case, to some good work- 
man, for at least four years or more. At the 
end of that time they were efficient, practical 
workmen who, if free, could command good 
wages. So that hundreds of fine artisans came 
of slavery who were able to begin at once the 
laying of the foundation of the history of a 
free people. They took up their several trades, 
and for both races, turned their hands to every 
advantage. It should always be remembered that 
the magnificent civilization of the South as to 
its material wealth and prosperity, was built up 
by the slaves of the South. The cities, the 
country homes, the plantations and all their im- 
provements, the planting, cultivating, and har- 
vesting of the crops, all was done by Xegro la- 
bor. So that there should be set over to the 
account of the Negro race, not only their own 
progress since tlie Civil War, but also the pro- 
gress of the south for at least a century before 
the war. There is another incident in my life 
at this time which may be interestilig and also 
illustrate something of the' workings of that 
noted system of bringing slaves to the North. 
That system of exporting slaves is known in 



01:T of the 15KIAR8 



history as ''The Underground Railroad." I was, 
of course, deeply interested in this means of 
travel in those days and tried to get all the 
passengers for this railroad that I could find. 
My boss-foreman, H. E. Bryan, had disobeyed 
liis master and was threatened to be whipped. 
I assisted him to a place of safety. In all tlie 
slaveholders' dwellings, slaves were employed in 
the house. They practically had full charge of 
ali'airs, and especially in the dining room, kitch- 
en, etc. This part of the house was very sel- 
dom inspected, excepting to see that things were 
kept clean and orderly. Well, I dressed this 
slave up in a woman's garb and conducted him 
through the streets to the house of one, J\Ir. 
Primrose, a man who stood high in the commun- 
ity, and held the confidence of all slaveholders as 
one of them and one of their defenders and sup- 
porters, a matter of course. I was successful 
in getting my charge safely into the kitchen. 
Then with the assistance of the slaves in charge 
of the kitchen, we placed him in the attic at the 
rear of the house, above the kitchen. Here we 
safely secreted him and here he was fed on the 
best of the land for a long while. There was a 
most diligent search made for the slave in the 
town and throughout the country. A reward was 
offered and he was advertised, but all to no avail. 



MY LIFE— A>^TE-I;KI.LUM 



He could not be found high or low. At last 
things quieted down and we found opportunity 
to put him on this mystic train and send him 
to a clime where he enjoyed his freedom. This 
was indeed a daring attempt of mine, but it was 
in me to do it with a great deal of delight. And 
from that day to this, I have been proud of this 
one feat of my boyhood life which was on the 
side of right and humanity. 

In 1858 I was bound out to ^h'. Jacob Good- 
ing to learn the trade of bricklaying and plas- 
tering, in Newbern, N. C. I worked for him 
four years having thoroughly learned the trade. 
Having finished the course satisfactorily to Mr. 
Gooding, he gave me $6, a suit of clothes, set of 
tools, and a Bible, and the advice to be a good 
boy. Afterwards I worked for ]\Ir. Eusten. 
Then I decided that I would cjuit work and seek 
new fields. The occasion of my coming to this 
decision was as follows : Air. Eusten gave orders 
that I should work on the fourth of July. I 
made up my mind that I would not work on that 
day. Of course, this was disobedience and would 
have called for punishment. So I had to do 
something. I cleaned up my tools, packed them 
away, and on the fourth of July, 1857 left for 
Beaufort, N. C. There I went on board a 
schooner and ])ecame cook, receiving $7.00 for 



olT OF THE ^RlAl;^ 



111}- services. This schooner was en route for 
New York City. \Mien I landed at pier 28 
East RiA-er I had only my wages. I met a 
friend from the South. ]\[r. Alexander Hicks. 
and we arranged a plan hy which I should 
escape from the schooner. He helped me with 
my trunk and we carried it to a horse car and 
landed at 100 Sands st., Brooklyn. I soon found 
my mother who had preceded me to the North. 
She was engaged in collecting money for huying 
my father's freedom. She was aided in this 
work hy the Aholitionists. among whom were 
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Rev. Henry High- 
land Garnett, Rev. ^Mr. Bennington, j\Ir. Ar- 
thur Tapin. "Mr. Theodore Tilton and others. 
Mr. Timins,. Kinsley, Thomas, ancl Robert Hamil- 
ton. ]\Ioses Coss, Ebenezer Chambers and others, 
assisted me in getting work. I was able to at- 
tend school some. \Miile at school I made the 
acquaintance of '\\v. \\'illiam F. Powell, who 
has made his mark in the world and was honored 
b}" President ^NfcKinley with the position of min- 
ister to Playti. Some of the other boys were 
Ben ]\Iyrs and ^^''ash Parker, working against 
great odds and prejudice but aiming to make 
themselves an honor and credit to the Negro 
race. Many of these boys are now filling good 
positions and have made theiuselves honorable 
and law-abiding- citizens. 



^rs■ MFK— ANTi:-i;i;i,i.i M jt 

In New York I worked some at my trade. 
But I (lid other work as I could find it. ■ On the 
corner of Pack Slip and Water streets, I loaded 
trucks, chopped tea, weighed cotton, and I also 
did white-washing- of houses (but thank God I 
have never white-washed evil doers) cleaned 
■carpets and houses. 

In 1859 I heard for the first time a minister 
•of the A. M. E. Church, the Rev. James ^Morris 
Williams and the Rev. Geo. A. Rue, having- also 
met Bishops Daniel A. Payne and William Paul 
Ouinn. I was deeply impressed with the im- 
portance of making- my life a means of serving 
'God in the uplifting of my people. I was con- 
vinced even then that it does not follow that 
because our skins are dark and that we are iden- 
tified with the Negro race that there is no chance 
for us to become potent factors in the uplifting 
of humanity and especially my own people ; that 
a man should decide to do right and go ahead 
and God would certainly care for him all his 
days and give him the reward of all his labors. 
It is a great thing for a man to realize the re- 
sponsibility of true manhood and let others learn 
this from his example. If these were my con- 
victions in those dark da}'s, what should be the 
feelings of young men of the race today, when 
the darkness of slaverv has been changed into 
the li"ht of libertv? 



OUT OF THE r,KrAi;s 



Sometime in i860 ]Mr. Albert Storm requested 
me to aid him in getting- his mother from the 
South. She was a slave. Millie, Sally, Ann and 
John Caraway were brought from the South, by 
the permission of the owner, by one Dolly Babb^ 
to Brooklyn. Dolly said to my mother, "Now I 
ani delivered from the devil out of hell. I am. 
bound to serve my Heavenly ^Master and I shall 
serve Him well." J. R. \'. Thomas, William 
Isaacs, Rev. \\'illiam Dixon, Paul Drayton, 
James Anderson, Dr. Peter \\'. Ray, Joe Bowen,. 
Chas. H. Lansing, William Still. Rev. George 
W. Leveer and others, were a few of the men 
who were engaged in bringing slaves from the 
S<nith and giving them their freedom. ]\Ien of 
grander qualities, morally, socially and religious- 
ly, I have never met. 

In 1859 I was married, on June 16th, to ]\Iiss 
Olivia A. Hamilton, a daughter of j\Ir. Robert. 
Hamilton, editor of an Anglo-African paper. 
Ada A. AN'illiam Alexander and Mary Hamilton* 
were born to us. 




ALEXANDER H. NEWTON 

In Military Uniform 

Commissary Sergeant 29th Regiinent 

Connecticut Volunteers 



mil Wtxv littorh auit 

Bkttth of thr 
Sutnitg-ututh Srytntrut 



Mij liar iRcrnrii aub ^kctrb of tlir 
(Uiuntty - ututb IRr yimrut 



In 1861 when President Lincoln issued a call 
for 75,000 troops I engaged myself for the great 
Civil War, the War of the Rebellion. I went 
into the company of the Thirteenth Regiment, of 
Brooklyn. I went to the front, as the United 
States was not taking Xegro troops. In 1862 
there was a riot in X'ew York City. The colored 
people were being dreadfully treated, being- 
stoned, killed, and shown how despised they were 
even in the North. An orphan asylum (colored) 
was burned, having at that time three hundred 
children in it. I returned to Brooklyn under the 
command of General B. F. Butler, who had been 
ordered to put down the riot. While engaged in 
this mission I got into the very midst of the riot- 
ers. Soon they were after me. I ran through 
the streets of New York like a wild steer, while 
the rioters cried out. "Head the Nigger Off !"' At 
length, I reached the New Haven boat which 
brought us safely to New Haven, Conn. W'hile 
there I engaged at my trade with ]\Ir. W. Clark. 
On the 18th of December, 1863, I enlisted in the 

31 



OUT OF THK BRIARS 



Twenty-ninth Regiment, of the Connecticut Vol- 
unteers, as a private. On March 8, 1864. the 
regiment broke camp and left New Haven for 
Annapolis, Md., with Colonel W. B. Wooster in 
command. On the next Sabbath after we reach- 
ed Annapolis, I attended the Methodist Church 
and listened to a powerful sermon by Rev. I. J. 
Hill, he l>eing an orderly to Colonel Wooster. 

While in the camp at New Haven, Conn., we 
employed our idle time in discussing the great 
problems that confronted the country at that time. 
Lieutenant Seymour, Uncle Fred Moore, Horace 
Louden, Rev. L J. Hill and myself were the par- 
ticipants in these discussions. The new party, the 
Republican, was then formed, the prime purpose 
of which was the freedom of the slaves. We 
were most frequently surmising and prophesying 
as to what would be the final outcome and the ul- 
timate benefits to the Negro race. There were 
vital questions at stake then. The spirit of pa- 
triotism and the desire to lift oppression, were 
afire in every breast of every true American. It 
would be well for the many young Afro-Ameri- 
cans of today to remember that the supreme pur- 
pose of the Republican party when it was organ- 
ized, was not only to prohibit the further exten- 
sion of slavery, but to exterminate it as a system 
of barter and traffic. On the other hand, the 
Democratic party at that time was in favor of the 




COL. W. P. WOOSTER 

Colonel of the 29th Regiment, 
Connecticut Volunteers 



MY WAK KECOIJD 



infernal system of slavery, and in our day. it is 
in sympathy witli anv movement that looks to 
keeping' the Negro race in some kind of shackles. 
They are still in favor of keeping the Afro-Amer- 
ican in slavery in some form. And they are suc- 
ceeding reasonably well. I'or at last, we are 
forced to conclude that no man is really free im- 
less he holds in his bosom the right of franchise 
and has received the lil)ert\' to exercise that right. 
ilave the ten millions of Afro-Americans in the 
L'nited States that right to-day? The answer 
comes from manv States. XC) ! 

Inspired with the thought of Shakespeare, who 
said, "Jie who would be free, let him first strike 
the bl(>w himself." mv bosom burned with the tire 
of jiatriotism for the salvation of my country and 
the freedom of my people. I was rejoiced when 
the Hon. Abraham Lincoln was elected President 
of these United States, and when it was my for- 
tune to see him emanciji^e the millions of mem- 
bers of the downtrodden race. I shall never for- 
get when I saw him riding through the streets of 
New York, with throngs of humanity on either 
side of him. He was on his way then to the in- 
auguration at Washington. D. C, to assume con- 
trol of the terror-stricken country and to take the 
reigns of government in his own hands. While 
it became necessary that blood should flow freely. 
I was reminded, that no sin is ever wiped out 



M OUT OF THE BRIARS 

without the spilhng of blood. This seems to be 
a decree of High Heaven, even among' the affairs 
of men. And God has made no exception to this 
decree, in the salvation of men from their person- 
al sins. I was indeed willing to unite with the 
party, the Republican party and the abolition 
movement for their high and holy purposes, and 
to l>e associated with such men as Rev. Henry 
Ward Beecher, Rev. Henry Highland Garnett, 
Theodore Tilton, Lewis Tapen, William Still, ot 
Philadelphia ; Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stev- 
ens and many other such men, whose platform 
was justice and right and freedom extended to 
all without regard to color or previous condition 
of servitude, and to enforce these rights and 
privileges even at the point of the bayonet. 

At New Haven we had been promised $15 
bounty oh our enlistment, but this had not been 
allowed, no effort, it seems had been made to pay 
us this money, but we did not shirk our duty be- 
cause we had not received our just dues. We 
had long been accustomed to such impositions; 
but we said that we would honor Old Glory, obey 
God, and contend for our prize, Liberty, and will 
contend in this conflict until the sound of clank- 
ing slave chains shall be heard no more in the 
length and breadth of this fair and goodly land. 
When kings, princes and nobles shall have been 
swept into merited oblivion and the Civil War 



MY WAR KKCORI) 



forgotten, posterity will catch the glowing theme 
of Liberty and enroll with rapture the names of 
those heroes who bought this boon with blood on 
the battlefield. 

The regiment paraded the streets while multi- 
tudes looked with wonder, some laughing, others 
cheering, mothers with their babies in their arms, 
crying and holding on to their husbands, as they 
marched away to do battle for the noblest of 
causes. It w^as a scene never to be forgotten. We 
marched from Chapel street, where we embarkeil 
on a Government transport. As I went on board 
the vessel, mother, father, wife and children, 
ladies and gentlemen, of my friends, both white 
and black, were bidding me goodbye and express- 
ing the hope tliat I might have a safe return. I 
cannot express the sobbing emotions of my heart, 
when I ungrasped the hands of these loved ones 
and friends and turned my face away from them, 
knowing that I might be going to my death and 
never again see them in this world. 

When we reached Annapolis, j\Id.. we were en- 
camped three miles out of town. Here for the 
first time we put up our tents. It was cold and 
damp. We dug holes about two feet wide extend- 
ing from within outside the tent, and placed sheet 
iron over these and in these small trenches start- 
ed our fires. In this way we were able to have 
lieat within and force the smoke outside. 



3() OUT OF THE BRIARS 

rile colored jteoplc in lhi> place were alraitl t»:» 
speak to ns. Their masters looked on us with 
contempt. On Sunday a reverend gentleman 
came into the camp to preach to us and we hs- 
tened to a very interesting- sermon. After re- 
maining here for eight or ten days, we received 
orders to strike tents. We left for Hilton Head, 
S. C, arriving at this place April 16. 1804. We 
marched through the main street and went into 
camp with the Twenty-sixth, of Xew York. On 
^lay 25 the paymaster arrived at Beaufort, S. C, 
where the Twenty-ninth Regiment was at this 
time stationed, and our si)irits were greatly lifted 
up when we saw him_, for as yet we had received 
no ])ay for our services. But when we were told 
l)vdiim tliat we could receive onlv $7 per month 
eacli, for our services our spirits fell. So I, to- 
gether with the rest of niy comrades, was really 
disgusted with this failure on the part of the (iov- 
ernment to give us a decent com]:)ensation for our 
work as soldiers. The officers advised us to take 
it and assured us that at the next ])ayment we 
should receive our full compensation. A\'e decid- 
ed to follow their advice. We cjuieted our pas- 
sions and went to work like good soldiers. jNIy 
great desire was to get into contact with the 
Southern forces that we might he working out 
the decision of this great prohlem. 1 had no ill 
feeling for tjie Southern white people, some of 



MY WAR KK('01!I> 



them had Ijeen my best friends; but this was not 
a personal matter, but a question of national is- 
sue, involvin,!^- the welfare of millions, and my 
soul was on fire for the question. Slavery o-r Xo 
Slavery, to be forever settled and that too as soon 
as possible. 

While the troops were at llermuda Hundred 
having disembarked from the transport .Maljama, 
I recalled an incident. When my father and 
mother were sitting- at the table ofjmy father's 
owner, blaster Park Custis. a son of 'Mr. and 
Mrs. Custis, jsaw a piece of pie on the table and 
started to help himself, without any formalities, 
my mother objected t»^ his uncouthness, caught 
hold of him and would have handled him ([uite 
roughly, but my father caught hold of her and 
held her until the youngster got away with his 
prize. He was very insolent and insulting. It 
all came over me and I thought how I would lil<e 
to find him at that time and administer the very 
flog-ging which my dear mother started to give 
him. I was indeed in a proper mood to have done 
it. if 1 had came across him. This is but a little 
illustration of hundreds of incidents that came 
into mv mind when the army was in the South. 
and as I felt then, that 1 was duly protected. I 
c<infess that 1 had a l)urning desire to eke out 
some vengeance which for years had been ])ent 
up in mv nature. lUit. of course, ivou\ tlie Chris- 



3S OUT OF THK DRIAKS 

tian standpoint, this was all wrong. I was all 
wrong. I was then on a much higher mission 
than trying to get personal vengeance on those 
who had mistreated me and mine. 1 was fighting 
for the liberty of my people and the righting of 
many wrongs that belonged to their social and re- 
ligious welfare. While I had not learned much 
of the law's of commerce and politics, I knew only 
a little of the arts and sciences, which I had pick- 
ed up here and there, by an attentive mind, in 
mixing with the educated people of the South ; I 
knew nothing of military science, but I had been 
watching the Southerners drill for several years 
seemingly getting ready for some unexpected 
conflict : but I did know that the time was fast ap- 
proaching when a great problem would have to 
be settled by bloodshed, when I would be called 
on to make my life a personal sacrifice on the al- 
tar of my country and for the sake of my people. 
I knew that slavery and its inhuman machinery 
must be put out of existence and that the simple 
])rinciples of liberty of thought and action in poli- 
tics, society and religion must prevail. And, at 
this time, I was in the full realization of what it 
meant to be again in the S(mth, not a cringing 
black man, but a j^jroud American soldier wath 
the Union and Old Glory behind, before, over 
and under me. I had heard, in the fifties, from 
the Southerners, that there would be a war and 



MY WAR RECORD 3{> 

that if any of the colored people aided the Nortii 
in it. they would catch them and cut out their 
tongues and make them drink their mothers' 
blood. \\'ell, at this time, I was in the South to 
have my tongue cut out and to drink my mother's 
blood if it had been necessary. l'>ut thank God, I 
belped to save my own tongue and my mother's 
blood and my race ! This is enough glory for me ! 
All the soldiers of the Twenty-ninth Regiment, 
although dark-skinned, felt the full responsibility 
of their mission. They were in the South to do, 
to dare, and to die. And while they had not- been 
trained in military tactics at West Point and were 
backward in their movements, they had been to 
the armory of God and had received weapons of 
the heart, that made them daring and dangerous 
foes — men to be really reckoned with. And I am 
proud to say, that the history of the colored man 
in warfare has been an enviable one. He has al- 
wa\s showed his patriotism by action, by deeds 
of sacrifice, by death itself. A\"e had the same 
muscle, the same strength, the same heart, the 
same conscience, the same cause, the same right. 
tlie same liberty as the white man. We were 
fighting under the same flag and the same God. 
I remember the words of General Saxon, "Boys, 
if you want to make good soldiers you must look 
a white man straight in the face and let him know 
that you are a man." This gave us fresh courage 
lo press forward as soldiers to a certain victory. 



40 OUT OF THE P.KIAlfS 

(Jn the 14th of Auyust, 18O4. a time loiii;' to be 
remembered with us, an oppressively hot day, we 
marched into X'irginia. A\'e were worn out, 
weary, thirsty, hungry, and completely exhaust- 
ed. We were compelled to carry otu" blankets, 
knapsack, musket, and sixty pounds of cartridges. 
About 4 P. M. we reached the headquarters of 
General Birney, in the woods and encamped. 1 I 
was so overcome with the heat that I fell to the 
ground and was soon asleep. \\'e had no feather 
beds to lie upon, only the bare ground — but this 
bed always supplied by ^lother Earth, was de- 
lightful this time for rest. We had for our din- 
ner, breakfast and supper, half-done salt pork, 
which was placed on a stick and held over a blaze 
to warm it; hard tack, on which mie could hardly 
make an impression with the teeth, and some- 
times coffee, if it could be gotten. These were 
some of the hardships of tlie soldier and these 
were enough; but when \()u add to these the 
mental condition of many, such as myself, almost 
afraid of my own shadow, ready to shoot at any- 
thing that made a threatening noise, — I remem- 
ber that I sliot at the limb of a tree floating down 
the river, tliiiiking tluit it was a rebel skiff with 
spies — it was a sore and trying ordeal. Every sol-' 
dier was in constant expectation of surprises from 
.[the Johnnies, or rebels. \Lee's and Johnson's army 
was near iUizzard's Roost, in face of a rockv- 



MV WAK RECOKl* 41 

faced rulge, to pass him meant suffering and 
death. We were surrounded by Dutch Gap 
Canal, James River, over which we had to cross 
on a pontoon bridge, and Fort Hell to be captur- 
ed and taken. Llut knowing that Generals Weit- 
zel, Sherman, Doubleday and Butler had 35,200 
men under them, we went bravely forward, de- 
termined that Old Glory should not trail in t\\e 
dust. 

We crossed the pontoon bridge near Deep Bot- 
tom and marching about two miles, halted in a 
corn field. Here we rested, but in momentary 
readiness for a call to action as the rebels were 
very near us. We were soon aroused and called 
to the fort at Malvern Hill. Here we entered into 
an engagement with the rebels and many were 
wounded, killed and taken prisoners. I had a 
very narrow escape and thought several times 
that "my time" had come. I remember a twenty- 
pound cannon ball coming towards me, I could 
see it distinctly through the smoke. It looked 
like it had been sent especially for me. I said 
quickly, "Lord, you promised that a thousand 
should fall at my side, but that it should not come 
nigh me." It was quick praying, quick thinking, 
quick coming; but when the ball was within about 
three feet of me it struck the ground and bound- 
ed over my head. So I was saved. God's prom- 
ise was fulfilled in my case. 

4 



OUT OF THE BRIARS 



On the i6th we joined the Third Division, 
Tenth Army Corps, General Birney's Brig-ade, 
composed of the Twenty-second, Seventh; Eighth> 
Ninth and Twenty-ninth, United States Cavalry 
Troops, numbering 5000 men. We took up our 
march for Jones' Landing, [recrossed the pontoon 
bridge under very disagreeable circumstances, 
rain, mud and slush, but we were thankful and 
cheerful; glad that we had not been killed, or 
wounded or taken prisoners, in the encounter 
just passed through. Again we camped in an 
open field and raised our tents, prepared our ba- 
con and -coffe-e and hard tack. We were soon 
ready to- take a good night's sleep. I remember- 
ed my loved ones and w^ondered how they were 
faring and my privations, but I found ■ myself 
willing to undergo all this for the cause of liberty. 

On the 17th we arose early and received word 
to advance. In a short time we were in a fierce 
battle. Our lieutenant colonel was wounded in 
the engagement. Again, I thought that my time 
had come. By some awkward movement, I w^as 
thrown into the Hne of the enemy. The Johnnies 
were very much excited and tiid their best to cap- 
ture me, but r succeeded in getting back into the 
Union lines.- I knew then that the prayers of my 
good old mother were being heard; for surely the 
Lord delivered me from the snare of the fowler 
and from the noisome pestilence. Our lieutenant 




REV. L J, HILL 

Orderly 29th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers 



MY WAi; UK(;OKD 4:^ 

colonel had his horse shot from under him and 
Orderly I. J. Hill was wounded. 

I prayed in this battle whenever I had oppor- 
tunity to look towards Heaven, for grape and 
canister and bullets of all shapes and sizes were 
falling thick and fast about me. We were in 
close quarters witii the enemy and our ranks were 
being thinned by reason of the wounded and dead 
lying on the battlefield. Although I came out of 
this battle pretty well shaken up, excepting for a 
few scratches, my life was on the altar for my 
country and my people, and I was not especially 
concerned as to the outcome regarding my own 
life; but I was determined to do all that I could 
to bring our cause to a victorious end. The 
Union forces moved back and remained all day 
about twelve miles from Richmond. 

On the i8th, the Twenty-ninth Regiment, of 
which I was commissary sergeant, and the Third 
Division, moved down the valley, halting in the 
open fields for two hours. We were opposite the 
pontoon bridge which crossed the Chick ahom- 
iny, and remained until the bridge was put in re- 
pair. While here I gave out hard tack and pork 
to the soldiers as best I could. For myself, I 
built a little fire and roasted a bit of pork over the 
fire, which together with water from the river, 
formed my meal. On the 20th we marched for 
the forts on the right of Point Rock Hospital, 



44 OUT OF Till-: imiARS 

near Petersburg. On the 21st we were almost 
flanked by the rebels and retreated to Malvern 
Hill and repaired the breastworks. Here we had 
another skirmish. Some lost their lives and oth- 
ers were wounded, but we were successful in 
capturing seventy-live prisoners. 

On the 23d we crossed the James River on the 
pontoon bridge, passing the heights where th<j 
New Jersey Battery was stationed. VThey greet- 
ed us with shouts and "Hurrah boys ! we are here 
to stay !" Such a round of cheers you never 
heard. You would not have thought that they 
were on their way to battle, and some to death 
and the Judgment Throne. Uncle Freddie ]\Ioore 
and Orderly I. J. Hill were the only preachers 
we had with us, excepting the chaplain. They 
used to say to us, "boys get ready, for if there 
ever were a time when you should be ready, it 
is now ; for you do not know when you may be 
called to go, you are continually in death's jaws." 
! We were soon in front of Petersburg, Va., 
looking upon the doomed city. We were greeted 
4 by a shell from the rebels,| or Grey Backs, as we 
sometimes called them. It fell near the colonel, 
who was sitting on his horse at the right of the 
brigade. We countermarched and fell back to 
the woods, where we remained until 5 o'clock, 
when orders were received from the general to 
fall back to the fort and protect the pontoon 



MY WAR RECORD 



bridge. On our way we met a lot of troopers 
making their way to the front, who wanted to 
know our reason for returning'. We told 
thena that the rebels were after us. It was 
very amusing to see them falling into line. 
Some of them could march faster than we. 
We reached the fort, but when we found 
that the. Johnnies were not coming a^fter us, we 
became anxious to see them and meet the issue. 
We four;d;. quite a number of our associates from 
New Haven and Hartford, Conn., and Wood- 
bury, N-. J. We were all delighted that our lives 
had been, spared to see each -other again in the 
flesh and chatted freely about our friends at 
home, our wives, mothers and children. I had 
often heard of the horrors of war, but .now I be- 
gan to experience what it meant, in the joy of 
meeting friends whom I never expected to see 
again on the earth, or at least some of them. 
There was a sense in which I had a new under- 
standing of that marvelous passage of Scripture^ 
regarding death, "Oh death, where is thy sting: 
Oh, grave, where is thy victory." We had not 
yet felt the sting of death and we had not experi- 
enced the victory of the grave, yet we had been 
in the very midst of both. 

Once again we marched in front of the horrible 
pit, Petersburg. Some of the whites said, see 
they are taking those colored soldiers to the 



}H OUT OF THE BRIAns 

slaughter pen. Truly, they had said so, for I 
never saw such a scene the first night. Shot and 
shell were raining fast around us. Henry Migs, 
a native of Africa, was killed. He died as a sol- 
dier, true to his adopted country, but a stranger 
to God. I thought that every bullet was sent for 
me and was doing some real praying. We do 
not know what prayer is, until we are reduced to 
our extremity. Then we realize with a new ex- 
perience, that our extremity is God's opportun- 
ity. I told the Lord that He had promised t© 
"Rescue the perishing and care for the dying," 
and that I wanted Him to keep the promise of 
that song, so far as I was concerned. Well, 
praise His name, He did so. Thank God to-day 
that I am still living and permitted to write this 
bit of fearful ex{)erience, so others may know 
what it is to trust in God. 

On the 24th, Private Sam Bertim, of Company 
E, was killed, having been shot through the head. 
Private George Porter was also killed. Colonel 
\\'t)Oster was taken sick and was carried from the 
ride pits to the rear. The rebels captured one of 
our officers, while changing those on picket duty. 
Two men from the Twenty-ninth were slaughter- 
ed, they were members of Company A. The col- 
ored troops did some good fighting in this en- 
gagement. We were told by the enemy that it 
we were captured our tongues would be cut out, 



MY WAH RECORD 



or we would be starved to death ; that there would 
be no exchange of prisoners in our case. So this 
was a rather fearful inspiration, but it served its 
purpose, of causing us to fight to the best of our 
ability ; for we really feared that in case we were 
captured that such barbarities might be adminis- 
tered to us. 

On the 1st of September we were ordered to 
strike tents and to move on, we knew not whither 
we were going. We did not care either, for now 
we were thoroughly entliused with the issues ot 
w-ar. We had tasted of the dangers of battle, and 
this taste brought out the desire that we should 
figlit to the finish. Some of our dear friends had 
laid down their lives already, and we reasoned 
that if it should l)e necessary for them to give 
such a sacrifice, that we were no better than they. 
So in our judgment, we were becoming calm, and 
in our determination, we were becoming" more 
and more fixed. 

With President Lincoln and our great generals 
and loyal soldiers, we felt that the issue was as- 
sured. Of course we did not forget the divine 
side of the question, that God was on His throne 
and that right and justice and mercy would at 
last prevail. While it had always been said that 
this was a white man's country, we were deter- 
mined that the black man should share in this 
lionor of ownership. And the best way that this 



4S or.T OF THE BIUARS 

ownership could be established was through the 
loyalty of. the black man on the battlefield. For 
surely, it will be conceded that when a man has 
bought his adopted country by his blood, it is his 
own,; While, as a race, the Negro race, this is our 
adopted land, yet as individuals, it is our "native 
land, our fatherland. 

The colored troops numbered at this time about 
75,000. The Twenty-ninth Regiment, which was 
my own, formed the center. We were in line of 
march toward the city but were turned in our 
course; and crossed the pontoon bridge, which 
landed us near the city of Petersburg. When 
daylight came we were on the Old Market Road 
and headed for Richmond, A"a. j We were very 
much exhausted and were hoping for .a rest, when 
w'e heard the music of the bugle, which told us 
that our rest had come. ' 

At this time it was dangerous for live things to 
get in our way, we were hungry for something 
besides hard tack, bad coffee and salt pork. We 
wanted fresh meat and plenty of it. So it was a 
bad time for chickens and terrapin, for when we 
could find these living edibles, we generally ap- 
propriated them without any thought of the 
criminality of the act or of the danger of being 
detected or arrested. Our hunger gave us license 
to satisfy it in the quickest and best way avail- 
able. 



MY WAR KECORI) 4^" 

On the 2(i of September we were once again in 
front of the enemy and ready to do battle. We 
entered the engagement with enthusiasm and 
rapidly drove the enemy before us. We were as- 
sisted by a large Mogul, which we called the 
Petersburgh Express and one or two gimboats on 
the James River, which fired balls half as big as 
a common sized water bucket. Soon victory was 
perched on our banners and with flying colors, 
we advanced by a right flank and entered the reb- 
el lines' after a bad fought battle of six hours, 
leaving many dead and wounded on the battle- 
field. My brother, William Henry Newton, was in 
the same regiment with me, not as a soldier but 
as a valet, he attended Captain Griswold. We 
charged two of the rebel forts, the left of the 
line was charged by the Eighth United States 
Troops, supported by the Twenty-ninth ; the cen- 
ter was charged by the Ninth Maryland, support- 
ed by the Seventh United States Troops. In the 
history of my war record, I shall never forget this 
day's experience. The rebels fought hard and 
nobly, but the colored troops defeated them and 
gained another victory in favor of the Union 
army. Our loss was very heavy and the true 
story of the suffering and heartaches will never 
be known until the Judgment Day. 

Captain Thorpe and Lieutenant McDonald 
were wounded. I came on my rounds,, bringing 



Ol^T OF THK HKIARS 



refreshments and stopped where the surgeons 
were at work, I shall never forget the fearful 
sight that met my eyes. It was indeed sickening. 
There were arms and legs piled up like hogs' feet 
in a butcher shop. The dead and the dying were 
strewn over the battlefield for five miles. Drum 
Major John D. Cowes, of New Haven, with his 
corps, were busy carrying the wounded oflf the 
battlefield. I said to myself, war is a terrible way 
to adjust dififerences, when it might be done by 
the implements of peace. But I remembered that 
it is much easier to wield the sword than to use 
the pen ; much easier to give a command which 
will send hundreds to their death, than to be a 
master of assemblies and speak the word which 
gives peace and happiness to millions. We lay 
all night in front of the rebel works and in the 
morning we were warmly saluted by fierce bom- 
barding. So we were again in the midst of bat- 
tle which waged hotly. The enemy carried their 
dead and wounded out of their trenches as lively 
as they were able. They did this so as to keep 
from tramping on them and to have room for the 
soldiers who were doing the work of death. In 
this engagement several were wounded but not 
many killed. Our colonel was not able to do duty 
and our lieutenant colonel was sick at Fortress 
Monroe. 
{ (Jn the morning of the 4th, we advanced to the 



MY WAK llECOKD SI 

left of the line, planting our flag under the rebel 
fire of grape and canister, bombshell and mus- 
ketry. The dead were lying in every direction 
and the wounded were falling everywhere, cared 
for by the rear guard. On the 5th and 6th, we 
had to endure the hardships and exposure of the 
rifle pits, with advance pickets stationed in front 
of the rebel garrison. It was the fighting of a 
duel, so to speak, between two armies, although 
quite a distance apart. After while the Twenty- 
Ninth was ordered to headquarters, but did not 
get far on its way, when a fire broke out in our 
midst, we were shifted into a double-quick and 
returned to the breastworks where we held our 
position until the 8th, when we moved on the 
right to support the Forty-fifth, on Lookout 
Mountain. We were worn out and had hoped 
that we would be allowed to rest ; but we receiv- 
ed orders to take position on the front to supix)rt 
the Eighth United States Cavalry Troops, who 
had charge of the breastworks. Six days of hard 
fighting, fatigue and exposure, was our experi- 
ence here. Under orders of the general we 
scouted and explored the territory and drove the 
enemy from the woods. We were able to take 
charge of the situation, much to our pride: still 
holding the rebels at bay and driving them fur- 
ther, to hunt new quarters. 



OTT OF TIIK r.RTAKS 



On the 14th we abandoned the breastworks, 
General Birney leading the Third Division, Tenth 
Army Coi-ps, numbering 75,000 colored troops. 
We were not formed into a fighting position at . 
this time, perhaps for the reason that, the enemy 
were too strong for us. So we were brought to 
the rear of the breastworks. For a long while 
the rain had been pouring in torrents and there 
was not a dry place to be found nor a dry thread 
on our bodies, we were covered with dirt and 
mud from head to foot, and not. only felt to be 
in a terrible plight, but must have looked worse. 
The troops were ordered to prepare two, days' 
rations and to get ready for light marching. ■ !■ 
had opportunity now to be in the company of 
commissioned officers for a few hours at a time,' 
when we halted for rest. We would spread ouf 
meals on the wet gi'ound, not a very inviting 
table, but the best that we could find. I soinehow 
liad the feeling that something was going on, or 
was going to happen, that would require one' to^ 
be wise and cunning. The officers had a queer 
expression on their faces, and in fact all the field 
officers seemed to be uneasy. Three o'clock one 
morning, my surmises were justified, for the long 
roll was sounded and soon we were in line for 



MY WAK RECORD 53 

work. ■ We eng'aged in a- bloody struggle. \'\'e' 
moved to the right and some one began t©' sing. 

"Sure. I must fight if I would -win. 

Increase my courage Lord: 
I'll bear the toil, endure the p.ain. 

Supported by Thy Word." 

We thus .cheered our§elyes by the singing of 
songs while we fough^ aiid while we marched 
through the.^lrginia mud, such. songs as "Tramp, 
Tramp, the Boys are Marching,'' '"Beneath the 
Starrv JFlag." The rebel lines were fortified, but 
under our noble leaders, we marched on to 'cer- 
tain victory and the old Twenty-ninth was ready 
for any fray. The rising sun w^ouid seem to say 
to us, after he had broken through the 'darkness 
and the clouds, ''^Cheer up boys, don't be despond- 
ent, but vigilant, strong,, courageous, protecting 
the flag, the. country, women and children,, rights 
and liberty, and all. things will come out right;'' 
Thus it will be seen, how often God speaks to us 
through nature, how often \\;e are. cheered and 
helped by a bright day. How dependent \ye are 
upon our surroundings, for support. I do .not 
say that this should be so, for a soldier should be 
strong, regardless of such things, but neverthe- 
less they hav5 their effect. ■ 

We were on the extreme right of the front and 
within three miles of- Richmond, where our white 
troops were re]:)ulsed. The colored troops were 
commanded to halt and line up for action in front 
of the woods. ( Arain the thought came to me. al- 



54 OUT OP TIfE BllIAUS 

though this is called the white man's country^ 
they need us in war as in peace, to make and tO' 
keep the country. And why is not this fact fully 
realized by the white people? We are more than 
ten million strong and are ready at any time tO' 
lay down our lives for the nation and to give our 
lives in service, in times of peace, in all lines of 
activity. This we are doing. The progress 
which the Negi'o race has made since the war is 
an enviable one. No people or race would be 
ashamed of it. We have made this progress as- 
honest, industrious citizens. We have shown our 
manhood in both times of war and peace, and our 
record has been written. Then why are we not 
accorded the place that we have rightly merited? 
In the sentiment of the white people there lurks^ 
a deep-rooted prejudice against us, and in their 
course of action discrimination is made against: 
the Negro. We do not understand why this 
should be, unless there is a feeling on the part of 
the white people, that there is danger that we- 
should become too prosperous and too many — the 
feeling which the ancient Egyptians had against 
the Hebrews — hence, they took steps to check the 
Hebrews. These may be the steps taken by the 
white man to check our progress. But the same- 
(iod who overruled the destinies of the Hebrew 
slaves and brought them to their Promised Land, 
will take care of us and, we too, one day, shalE 



MY M'AK RECOIH) 



enter our Promised Land, of equal rights and 
liberty. 

On the 29th. there as a fierce encounter. The 
battle was indeed a slaughter pen. The enemy 
fought like tigers. The battle became general 
along the entire line. Adjutant Spaulding was 
w^ounded. Corporal George Burr, Company L; 
Corporal Sidney, of Company E, and many oth- 
ers were killed. Private George E. Peters, Ser- 
geant George Halstead, James Evans and many 
others were wounded. I, myself, feared, shook, 
and thought that my time had come. I was full 
of thoughts of my loved ones at home. I knew 
that they were praying that I should be delivered 
from the jaws of death.- This thought cheered 
and comforted me; and yet I saw friends falling 
around me, whose loved ones and friends, were 
also praying for their protection. Their prayers 
were not being answered and why? Why should 
I think that the prayers ofl:"ered for me were more 
availing than those offered for them? Why 
should I have any special reason for encourage- 
ment? These thoughts come to one when he is 
in the midst of circumstances which seems to 
upset *many" of our principles of religious faith. 
They come to us not only in war but in work. 
They must be reckoned with. The only answer 
that I could find as to why the prayers oft'ered 
for me were availing up to this time, was that my 



OIT OF THE BRIARS 



time had not come, and that it had not come be- 
cause God had not ordered it, and God had not 
ordered it because He had something for me to 
do. Of course, He had heard the prayers which 
had been offered for me and they entered into His 
decree regarding my life. The only answer we 
can find to many perplexing questions which 
come in life is, "It is God's way, His will." 

I was very busy in supplying the regiment with 
food, vinegar and water, and such edibles as I 
could get together. | The doctors were busy saw- 
ing off legs and arms, and binding up wounds, 
and giving medicines to the w^ounded and sick. 
The women were busy in preparing bandages, lint, 
and doing what they could in the alleviation of 
human suffering.! God bless the dear women who 
had the faith and the courage to breast the trials 
and hardships of soldier life. These scenes would 
have made your heart sore. Dear reader, the 
wounded and dying scattered over the battlefield 
thick, the hurrying to and fro of the physicians 
and the nurses ; the prayers and groans and cries 
of the wounded, the explosion of bombs, the 
wliizzing of bullets, the cracking of rifles ; you 
would have thought that the very forces o'f hell 
had Ijeen let loose. And, indeed, it was a hell, the 
horrors of which no one could ever forget. 

We finally retreated under the cover of the 
cavalry. The colored troops were the first to en- 



MY WAK KECOKD 



ter the field and the last to fall back. We thereby 
demonstrated to our President, Abraham Lin- 
coln, and our General. U. S. Grant, that we were 
among their best supporters. The white man had 
no record to make. He was known as a fii^hter 
for centuries, our record was to be made and we 
were making it. The flag of our regiment could 
be seen floating among the pines. A\'e were glad 
that Old (dory was above us with her folds pierc- 
ed with many bullet holes. )We returned to camp 
and tot)k our former position in front of Rich- 
mond, where we remained for awhile. 

We were again in battle array, having been 
marched up to the rifle pits. Our field officers 
being absent, we were under the command of 
Captain Camp, of Company D, our own colonel, 
W. B. Wooster. was at home on sick furlough. 
Lieutenant Colonel W. L. Ward, who had been 
promoted to the rank of colonel, was in charge 
of the Forty-first L^nited States Cavalry Troop. 
The lieutenant colonel said to us, "Boys, we must 
fight to-day. let me have your best. Duty de- 
mands it. I will stand by you until the last. 
Watch, keep in line, and obey orders." He 
brought us up double-quick to the rifle pits and 
the bugle sounded charge. We charged, firing, 
yelling, using our bayonets and our arms in the 
most cruel manner, biut still in accordance with 
the tactics of warfare. \\'e were there to kill in 



orx OF Tin-: briars 



every manner possible. We held the pits for 
twenty-four hours, brought the rebels to their 
knees, brought down their flag and unfurled the 
'Stars and Stripes to the breezes.' 

This was a disastrous battle, probably the most 
disastrous I had ever witnessed. I should proba- 
bly make exception of the Fort Pillow Massacre, 
in which my brother, Steven Newton, was killed. 
He was a member of the Fourteenth, Rhode Isl- 
and Battery. Charles Beeman, Rev. Amos G. 
Beeman and Corporal A\'. W. \Mlkins were with" 
him to the end and were able to make the report 
of his death to me. ' We lost in this battle over 
one hundred, i. e., I am counting only the loss of 
the Twenty-ninth Regiment. ' This regiment 
fought most bravely, gaining- great praise, and re- 
ceiving many compliments from the officers high 
up in rank. When the battle was over, we fell 
back and camped in front of Richmond. While 
there we attended the funeral of Private Charles 
Bently, who was killed early in the engagement. 
He died a champion for liberty and an earnest 
Christian. Jones Spriggs and thirteen others 
were buried at this time. 

Many of the veterans went out on foraging 
expeditions. While resting we would engage in 
religious and patriotic songs. One of our favor- 
ites was, ''Tenting on the Old Camp Ground." 
About this time, the Third Division, Tenth Army 



MY WAi; UKCOItD 



Corps. Twenty-ninth Regiment, and General Cir- 
ney, were surprised with the presentation of the 
United States national colors, which greatly 
pleased the boys. The flag was presented by the 
Forty-tifth United States Cavalry Troop to our 
lieutenant colonel, in a most pleasing manner. He 
spoke of the great bravery of the soldiers in bat- 
tle. Colonel Ward replied that he had 672 guns 
which would speak whenever occasion demanded 
it. He also said that his boys were filled with as 
noble sentiments as any that had ever filled the 
breasts of boys before the guns. 

\\diile on dress parade we received the sad an-_ 
nouncement from our lieutenant colonel that he 
would leave the regiment, as he had been pro- 
moted to the rank of colonel. This was indeed 
sad news to us. He had been with us in many 
hard-fought battles. We had learned to love him 
and had great confidence in his ability. He knew 
what course to pursue in order to avert many of 
the tricks of the Johnnies, not only being well xip 
in military science, but well acquainted with many 
little games that are often played in war. 

We remained in front of Richmond five days. 
While there we were cjuiet and enjoyed the much 
needed sleep that we had. We were greatly an- 
noyed here as well as in other places with what 
the soldiers called greybacks, not the rebels, how- 
ever ; they were genuine creepers. They molest- 



6a OUT OF THE BRIARS 

ed us no little. Whenever I could get off I would 
go to the creek and disrobe myself and pick them 
out of my clothes, then wash my clothes and hang 
them on the bushes to dry. Then I would dress 
myself and feel like a king, because once a again 
I was clean and free from these unearthly ver- 
min. 

From the first to the eighth of November, 
1864, we were at Alalvern Hill. I was Commis- 
sary Sargeant and was careful to keep as near the 
regiment as possible with my department. Sar- 
geant Quartermaster D. L. Lathrop had charge 
,of the ammunition, knapsacks, etc., under the 
command of our regimental quartermaster, there 
was always detailed a guard to protect us. We 
always followed the army w'ith our train. I re- 
member once that I got into the line of the John- 
nies and I ran as if the hounds of hell were after 
me. I heard the whizzing of a bullet over my 
head, but it missed me. So I said^ well they did 
not get me that time and Libby Prison has been 
robbed of an expected treasure. 

While here the Twenty-ninth Regiment had 
charge of the fort until the third of December. 

It was whispered about that Generals Lee, 
Johnson and others were in a position to watch 
our movements and that we might expect an at- 
tack at any time. But we were not worried over 
this reix)rt with such Generals as U. S. Grant, 



MY WAR RECORD fU 

Sherman, Howard, Weitzel and others. W'e 
knew that they would be able to flank any mo\-e- 
ment that they might make. 

On ^Monday the tifth, we took up our line of 
march to a destination unknown to us, there were 
all kinds of rumors as to where we would stop. 
but at lastjwe found ourselves to the left of Fort 
Harrison on the left of the line. Here we camped 
under orders. | We engaged in the usual prep- 
arations for a stay, putting up our tents, building 
huts and making- things convenient for all con- 
cerned. But the next day the Colored troops 
were ordered to prepare two days' rations and 
to- advance. Then our countenances changed. 
We did not know but that another fierce battle 
was in store for us ; and w^e had had quite enough 
fighting to satisfy us for a long while. On Wed- 
nesday, we were in front of the Johnnies, with 
our breastworks thrown up ready for fight. 

The Colored regiments were consolidated in 
the Second Division. Third Brigade, Twenty 
Fifth Army Corps, i A number of detached men 
were taken from the regiments. Orderly I. J. 
Hill was Brigade Postmaster. I was with the com- 
missary department. All things were quiet along* 
the lines excepting the laughing and yelling of 
the Johnnies. Once in a while they would throw 
a shell into our camp. At this time we would 
hear their cheers and laughter. 



fiii OUT OF THE BKIAK8 

On January the first, we were in front of Rich- 
mond, Va. Here we engaged in battle with the 
Rebels, which was terrific. ^The anxiety, suffer- 
ing, slashing, shooting, were beyond description. 
Many lay dead on the battlefield, baking in the 
sun. There were dead animals which had beenr 
exposed for tw^o weeks, the stench was unbear- 
able. These are some of the indescribable tor- 
tures of war. 

The rebels soon retired from their position, 
for they would not have been able to withstand 
the Union Army. They were in constant expecta- 
tion of the coming of Sherman who at that time 
was in the vicinity of Atlanta, Ga. We were lui- 
der marching orders until the thirteenth. Col- 
onel Wooster received orders to place his head- 
quarters near our own regiment. I was deter- 
mined that I would keep up my enthusiasm and 
do all in my power to supply the boys with some- 
thing to eat. 

On the twenty-third the rebel fleet moved 
down the James River towards the Dutch Gap 
Canal and opened fire on Fort Bradley keeping 
it up all night. The following morning the 
whole line was drawn up for action, at long range 
with reinforcements in the rear. The shelling 
was terrific all day. I was in the basement of a 
house, when a shell came through the window, 
burst and tore its way through the building. This 



MY WAl! KKColtl' 



house was used for headquarters. Fortunatel\ 
none of us were hurt. Only the everlasting arm 
of God protected us, for all our friends who 
witnessed the shell and its devastations, supposed 
that we were all killed. The Quartermaster hav- 
ing received a wound in his knee, the Quarter- 
master Sargeant and I had to do all the work. 
At this time Orderly I. J. Hill and others were 
let oil on parole and went home for twenty days. 
The Confederates made another dash to retake 
their lost territory and to make sure of the per- 
manent establishment of the Slave Traffic which 
has been the curse of every nation or people who 
has adopted it. Their plan was to out-flank us 
and to effect a great slaughter and capture many 
•of our men and guns and ammunition. And it 
seemed to us that they were after the Colored 
troops. But our leaders were too shrewd for them 
and they were repulsed and their depot, maga- 
zines and machine shops at Beaufort, N. C, were 
blown up and also at Newberne. A great battle 
was fought about Fort Fisher and the Rebels 
were overcome. Hundreds were killed and 
wounded in this battle. 

The Colored troops in front of Richmond were 

moved from the breastworks on the left at Fort 

Harrison, to the hill in the center, where we 

"built up a fine elevation overlooking the Rebel 

works in Richmond. Here we remained several 



64 OT^T OF THE BRIARS 

days under heavy cannonading. We held the 
enemy so that they were unable to make any 
gains on us for four weeks. ' They made several 
attempts to storm and to cut oflf our supply, but 
they signally failed. But our men understood 
how to construct railroads and we would fre- 
quently hear the whistle of a locomotive in some 
direction bringing in our supplies. Our forces 
were well guarded on every hand by squads 
which were experts in caring for the welfare and 
needs of an army. We could hear the result 
of our bombarding in such cities as Petersburg, 
etc., and knew that our forces were gradually 
gaining and that the Rebels were gradually los- 
ing in their strongest holds. 

On the twenty-seventh of jNIarch we struck 
our tents and moved on to Richmond. We were 
soon formed in line of battle in front of this 
city. The Rebels blew up three gunboats and 
evacuated their works immediately in front of 
us. There was heavy cannonading from the gun- 
boats in the James River, the Monitor and other 
boats. 

At this time there were many refugees com- 
ing to us by the hundreds. This was in part the 
result of Sherman's march to the sea. He left 
in his wake many monuments of this famous 
march. There were deserted villages, chimneys 
standing without the houses about them, and 
troops of stragglers following the army. 



MY WAR KECORI) 



Colonel Wooster ordered the 29th Regiment 
to advance and to do some daring work in the 
digging- up of buried torpedoes which had been 
])lanted to impede the march of the Union Army. 
We were liowever equal to the task. We cap- 
tured live hundred pieces of artillery, six thou- 
sand small arms, and the prisoners I did not 
count, but when we looked on them in the prison 
pen, the number seemed to be enormous. 

We were present in Richmond when President 
Lincoln made his triumphal entry into the city. 
It was a sight never to be forgotten. He passed 
through the main street. There were multitudes 
of Colored people to greet him on every hand. 
They received him with many demonstrations 
that came from the heart, thanking God that 
they had seen the day of their salvation, that 
freedom was theirs, that now they could live 
in this country, like men and women, and go on 
their way rejoicing. Orderly I. J. Hill said that 
he saw a colored woman trying to get a look at 
the president, at last he came along and Orderly 
Hill said to her: "Madame, there is the man that 
made you free." She shouted, "Is that President 
Lincoln? Glory to God, give Him praise for His 
goodness." The President, with his son, and Ad- 
miral Porter, together with others walked over 
a mile to the headquarters of General Weitzel, at 
the mansion of Jeff Davis. A colored man acted 



Ol'T OF TIIK lU'vIARS 



as the guide. There were six Union soldiers as 
advance guard, then came President Lincohi, 
his son, and Admiral Porter, while on his right 
and his left were other officers. He was follow- 
ed by six sailors with their carbines. This march 
created the wildest enthusiasm of the Colored 
people. They had lived to see the day of their 
liberty dawning. I was reminded of what had 
been done for the ancient Hebrews by Moses 
when he led them out of the land of their bond- 
age, into the land of their promised liberty. Lin- 
coln was indeed our Moses. He led i:s forth. 
He gave us our freedom. I noticed one white 
lady in a window, who turned away from the 
whole scene as if in utter disgust. There were 
still two sides to the question, then and there 
are two sides to it totlay. How long will these tw& 
sides remain, is the question. As the President 
looked out upon the poor Colored people and re- 
membered how many lives had been lost in work- 
ing out their salvation, he was not able to keep 
the tears from his eyes. They were tears of 
gladness and sorrow, of regret and delight ; but 
the tears of my own people were the tears of the 
greatest joy. 

The President went to the state capitol where 
he made a short address in which he said : "Now 
you Colored people are free, as free as I am. 
God has made you free and if those who are your 



:\IY WAR HKCOltl* 



superiors are not able to recognize that you are 
free, we will have to take the sword and musket 
and again teach them that you are free. You 
are as free as I am, having the same rights of 
liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness." 

While at Richmond, we engaged in many for- 
aging expeditions. \\'c found such things as 
eggs, chickens, butter, bread, fruit, tobacco. There 
were bales of tobacco in the streets free for every 
one who enjoyed the weed. And I must say that 
many were delighted with their free smokes. 
There was plenty of Confederate money too, 
which was often blown about by the wind as so 
much worthless waste paper. Well it was- waste 
paper. With the passing of the Confederacy, 
the money value passed away on all such curren- 
cy. 

On April i6th, 1865, we were painfully shock- 
ed to hear of the death of President Lincoln, at 
the hands of an assassin. No one can measure 
the consternation which struck our hearts. This 
great and wonderful man who had guided the 
Ship of State through four years of such peri- 
lous waves and winds, that he should thus pass 
away and in such an infamous manner, was 
more than we could stand. But it was so. Our 
faith was almost staggered, that faith which had 
sustained us in so many battles, was now stag- 
gering under a blow^ which was severer than any 



(58 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

battles, the death of our Immortal leader. Thus 
in four years from the first shot fired on Fort 
Sumter, four years from the very day of the first 
shot, the shot was fired from the hand of Booth, 
that removed one of the greatest men the world 
ever knew, from the scenes of human action. He 
was removed too at a time when he was most 
needed. Yes, he was more needed, than when 
the nation was in the midst of a bloody conflict. 
He was now needed to set up the battlements of 
peace, which is a more difficult work than the 
forts of warfare. 

On the twenty-fourth, we moved from the 
camp near Petersburg, to, Camp Lincoln where 
we enjoyed our camp life for awhile. We hid 
lost many of our numbers through death on the 
battlefield and disease in the camp, but losses 
were now being recruited by volunteers coming 
to us. I was kept busy filling our regimental 
papers, ordering and issuing rations. Some of 
our men had become so rum thirsty that they 
would ofifer me ten dollars for a canteen full of 
whisky. But I was not allowed to sell it, and to 
give it out only on the orders of the Quarter- 
master. 

We were not here long. We embarked on 
the Demolay for Norfolk, \'a. General Russel 
and staff came on lioard to tell us goodbye. I 
had two barrels of supposed corn beef, the boys 



.MY WAK RECOKD <)!^ 

•called it salt-horse, which I suppose was nearer 
the truth. I had also a barrel of sugar. These 
I could not ship, so I left them, on the ground. 
for some poor fellows that could use them. Col- 
onel Wooster came also and saw us off. We 
left many friends, some of them with tears in 
their eyes. They had become very dear to us. 
We had shared together the hardships of camp- 
life and of the battlefield. Human suffering 
makes men very near akin. As we glided swift- 
ly down the James River, for a while we could 
liear their cheers and when sound was out of 
touch, we could see their salutes of hats and 
handkerchiefs. We enjoyed the day as soldiers 
on board the vessel. I was astonished at the be- 
liavior of the soldiers. They gave themselves 
over to all kinds of sports and jestings, which 
disgusted me most thoroughly. Many were un- 
ruly, even threatening the lives of those who 
favored going to Texas whither we had been or- 
dered for garrison duty. Some of the gang were 
arrested for their insubordination. ^ly heart 
was made to shudder at the degrading and shame- 
ful life which was manifested on board the ship. 
Their swearing, drinking, gambling, dancing, 
etc., was heartsickening. It was indeed a revela- 
tion and shows what men will do when not un- 
der the eye of authority. Human nature is in- 
deed most sinful, and were it not for the restric- 



TO ol'T OF THE lUUAKS 

ticns which are thrown about us, none of us 
know what might come to pass. We arrived at 
Norfolk and anchored for the night. With hav- 
ing witnessed the debauchery on board the vessel 
and at the same time wrought with anxiety for 
my wife and two babies, my father and mother 
at home, I confess I was in a most depressed 
condition of mind and heart. "Be strong and of 
good courage," came to me like a flash and I was 
strong and buoyant in a little while. How grand 
is the truth of God, when we find it such a rock 
of refuge in times of trouble; I was thus great- 
ly consoled and went to bed looking up at the 
shining stars, as if they were so many angels, 
sent by God, to guard me. 

There was quite an excitement on board when- 
it was whispered about that the officers had cov- 
enanted together to take the soldiers on board, 
to Cuba, and sell them as slaves. There was 
qffite an indignation against I. J. Hill, for it was 
thought that he Avas in some manner party to 
this arrangement. The men were suspicious also- 
of Sam Brown, a clerk. I, together with others, 
had the good fortune to escape any insults or 
indignities. While at Norfolk, we went to church 
and saw quite a number of well-to-do Colored 
people. Rev. J- ^I. Brown, of the A. 'M. E. 
Church, I think was pastor. He treated us very 
cordiallv in<lced. We were introduced to manv 




BETHEL A. M. E. CHURCH 

WoDdbury, N. J. 
Built by Rev. A. H. Newton, D.D. 



MY WAK KECOIJD 



of the congregation. This church had a Sunday 
School of six or seven liunth^ed members. It was 
an inspiring sight to see them nicely dressed and 
to hear them sing so sweetly, many beautiful 
Sunday school songs. lUit the time had come 
when we had to leave the many dead of our com- 
rades. We had done all that we could for them 
in the last sad rites of death and now their bod- 
ies were resting under the cold sods of the South, 
awaiting the Resurrection Day. when we will all 
meet again and hear our record of the deeds done 
in the Ixxly and the judgment based on these 
deeds. The memories of war are one of the sad- 
dest features thereof. These memories can never 
be blotted out ; for as we grow older they seem 
to become more vivid. 

We took shipping on the transport, lilackstone, 
for Texas. \\'e were about fifteen days on the 
waters, the ocean was calm. There were six or 
seven hundred on board. It was no little job to 
take care of the hungry stomachs of these men. 
But we had a most pleasant trip and enjoyed the 
ocean waves and breezes. The officers spent 
most of their time in fishing. Once in awhile a 
fish six or seven feet long would be hauled in. 
For two days we were out of sight of land and 
only one small scliooner passed us. There was 
much complaint on board on account of the army 
food which I was compelled to give them salt- 



OrT OF TITK I'.RIAKS 



])ork or hard tack and bad coffee. They thouglit 
that being- on board of ship warranted better 
food, but I told them that I had to give them 
what I had. And so we fought the battle of the 
stomach. There were many however who were 
afflicted with sea-sickness and had no concern 
for something to eat. We had a bm^ial at sea. 
The poor soldier was sewed u\) in a blanket and 
consigned to a grave in the bottom of the deep. 
'J'he funeral service was very impressive to many 
of us, for it was the first burial at sea we had 
witnessed. I must confess that there was a 
grandeur about it that inspired one — as the 
boundless ocean received the body of our com- 
rade, eternity had received his soul. I thought of 
his loved ones and that in all probability they 
would never hear of him. Then I wondered if 
that grand song could not Ije an interpretation of 
this JMirial, 

''Rocked in the cradle of the deep, 
I lay me down in jieace to sleep. 
]n ocean cave still safe with Thee, 
The germ of Immortality."" 

-At this time I was not a member of the church. 
Hut my father had taught me to pray. And as 
I ha\'e fre(|nently related. I often i)rayed in bat- 
tle when 1 thought that m\' time had come. 1 had 
a sense of the guilt of sin and of the need of 



MY wAi; Ki;< i>Kr» 



confessioti of my sins. So I had also, the sense 
of peace which comes from a man's justification 
through Jesus Christ. My case I am sure is 1)Ut 
an iUustration of the cases of many men and 
women who have not connected themselves with 
the church. They are real Christians as I was, 
havin^^- all the ordinary experience of the Chris- 
tian, hut not having' made any outward profes- 
sion. We are therefore unahle to know who are 
the children of God, for certainly there are 1)e- 
lievers outside of the church. Our judgment 
therefore must always be a charitable one. Yet 
I do not want the impression to be made that I. 
in any sense, approve of believers remaining 
outside of the church. An outward profession 
of faith in our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, is an 
open badge of our religion which men can see. 
We should not hide our light under a bushel, but 
])ut it on a candle stick that all about us may see 
what we are by what we live. When we rounded 
the IHorida reefs, the boys' hearts were gladden- 
ed, because they had seen the land once again 
and their thought was that they were nearing 
the end of the voyage. We had some sickness 
on board, such diseases as yellow jaundice, ma- 
laria, chills and fever. We were huddled to- 
gether like a lot of wild ducks and the sanitary 
conditions were against our health. When about 
seven days on our trip, our drinking water failed 



OUT OF THE BRIARS 



US. We were on the water, yet we had no water 
to drink; but we did the best we could under the 
circumstances. 

We were glad when we came into the harbor 
at Mobile, Ala. Here we found many trans- 
ports lying in the harbor. Fort Gaines was to 
our right and Fort Morgan to our left. The boys 
were all delighted, because they were wild to get 
to land again, and especially to get a drink of 
good water. How dependent we are on mother 
earth after all for our lives. After passing the 
forts a short distance the anchor was dropped. 
The surroundings were grand. There were gun- 
boats lying in the stream, with their artillery of 
death-dealing cannon looking forth from the 
decks and thoroughly manned with the smaller- 
implements of naval warfare. But our hopes were 
not fulfilled, for a command came that we were 
to sail immediately to New Orleans. The men 
were bitter in their disappointment, but such is 
the experience of war. Men are not free, they 
are the parts of the gigantic machine of death, 
so many cogs in the wheels, or so many wheels 
in the machine, or so many parts of the machine. 
They soon became reconciled however. We had 
plenty of hard tack and salt horse left us, and 
with this we could not starve to the death. Our 
voyage was an uneventful one, save for the good 
weather and fine ocean. We were soon in the 



MY WAIJ KKCORD 



channel for New Orleans. \\'hen we reached 
the forts Jackson and Phillips, a signal stopped 
us for inspection. We were told that we could 
not go to New Orleans, that none of the men 
or officers could go any further without an or- 
der from General Grant. The officers telegraph- 
ed to Washington to General Grant. We were 
in rather a dilapidated condition, about out of 
coal and in need of better fuel for the stomach, 
with the men completely worn out with the voy- 
age. 

We were however permitted to go on land at 
Fort Jackson. This was a magnificent fort with its 
seventy guns overlooking the water inlet. There 
were many alligators in this place and we amused 
ourselves by killing them, which of course was 
a greatly desired thing. I had plenty of hard 
tack and this seemed to attract the reptiles. I 
remember one fellow over seven feet long I 
killed. 

At this place the Colored troops had , been- 
shamefully and barbarously treated. As I thought 
of the outrages which they had' suffered only 
about one month before our arrival, I felt that 
if I could, I would IJke a little revenge on their 
accoimt. But there was no opportunity for such 
outlet of wicked feeling. At last we received 
an order from General Grant to take the trans- 
port to New Orleans, to get a supply of coal and 



OUT OF THE lUlIAKS 



oil. and to have the transport repaired. But X<> 
onr di.sniay. only the officer.s were ])ermitted to 
go. ^\'e were left at Fort Phillips. 

I managed however, to get to Xew Orleans, 
in that I had charge of the commissary depart- 
ment. We were already beginning to forget the 
hardships of the battlefield. Our minds were 
turning' to the ordinarv life which we live, and 
looking" forward to the pleasures c )nnected with 
home and with business. And I a.s ;ure you. my 
dear readers, that it was a happy elease. 'We 
had the constant joy in our hearts vhat our be- 
kwed people had their freedom, bought with the 
blood of those who now slept the last sleep on 
many battlefields; but we did not believe that 
the price paid for this boon of liberty A\as too 
dear. The price of human lil)erty can never l>e 
estimated. This is especially true of those who 
knew what slavery meant. And the Colored 
Kace has an endless debt to pay their While 
friends who bought their liberty with their own 
blood. While it is true that the White people 
l)rought our forefadiers here and sold them into 
slavery, which of course they had no right to 
do, this does not diminish the price which this 
same race had to pay in order to buy us out of 
the slavery into which they had sold us. And it 
does not in the least diminish the debt of grati- 
tude which we shall dwc them as lung as time 
exists. 



MY WAi; KK«ni;r> 



1 had a slKTi't but very pleasant stay in Xew 
Orleans. On Sunday we went to the A. ^^. E. 
Church, of which the Rev. WiUiam A. Dove 
was pastor. This was the St. James A. ~S[. E. 
Church, ^^'e were most cordially received by 
the pastor and members. They were kind enough 
to take care of us while in the cit}'. We learned 
from the members that while we were on the 
hattletield, they were at home fasting and pray- 
ing that our grand cause might be victorious. 
"Fight and ])ray" is sure t(^ win the day for any 
just cause. The services were very pleasing and 
profitable. The pastor preached in the morning 
and our orderl}- I. J. Hill, at night. I and others, 
were nmch lifted up and realized anew what it 
was to draw water from the wells of salvation 
We spent much of our time in seeing the sights 
of the unique city of the South. Our friends 
xyere more than kind to us during our stay. We 
lacked nothing for good beds and good food and 
good society ; and we were in good sha[)e to a]i- 
preciate these things, because of the privations, 
losses, suffering, and fears through which we had 
passed. 

Our transport having been repaired and fur- 
nished with needed coal and oil and food, we 
were soon on our way back to the fort. We had 
not gone far on our course until there was an 
alarm of fire. This created quite a panic, but 



OUT OP THK BRIAR8 



the blaze was soon put out and we were enjoying^ 
our trip down the "Father of Waters." 

We arrived at Fort Phillips with more sol- 
diers for the Twenty-ninth Regiment, they having- 
been brought in from other quarters. 

We were soon off for Texas. With the trans- 
port loaded with human frieght, we started for 
Brazos De Santiago. Texas. We found the gulf 
quite rough on our entering it. This produced 
sea sickness with a great many. I remember one 
fellow who was very sea sick. I w^as unable to 
do anything with him. He was continually call- 
ing out "New^ York, New York." "There goes 
my liver," he cried, having spit up some blood. 
Our great trouble on this voyage was the lack 
of water. They had a condenser on board which 
reduced the amount of salt a few degrees, but 
we could easily taste the saline property of the 
water. We found Brazos a most undesirable 
place, there were plenty of fleas and mosquitoes 
and sand burrs. We had our headquarters at 
this place which was knee deep in water. Our 
Colored troops were nearly perishing for water. 
The suffering was most intense. It was heart- 
rending. I cried out to God to send us some 
hel]). We had but little water and that was quite 
brackish. Our means of condensing the water 
gave us only about five thousand gallons when 
we were in need of not less than ten thousand 



MY WAR HEC0R1» 



gallons. We paid ten cents a canteen for water 
and would have been willing to have paid fifty 
cents, or any price. 

After a while we met some Mexicans who had 
brought water from the Rio Grand and sold it 
for ten cents a canteen. Colonel Sadrick was 
very indignant over this hardship. When he saw 
our scars and realized how much these good sol- 
diers had suffered and the privations through 
which they had already passed, he saw General 
Wietzel and requested that the troops should be 
taken from Brazos. He met with success and we 
took our line of march for White Ranch on the 
Rio Grande River about ten miles south of Bra- 
zos. The march was one of great trial. We were 
in mud knee deep and in some places the water 
was waist deep. When we reached the Ranch, 
the soldiers were well nigh famished. They made 
a mad rush for the river and while many of them 
were on the bank, it gave way, and several of 
them were drowned. We were all greatly sad- 
dened over this misfortune. It seemed enough 
that men should have given up their lives on the 
battlefield, this was matter of course; but when 
men who had stemmed the tide of death which 
swept the battlefield were drowned, it seemed 
more than we could stand to see them cut off 
from their loved ones by a mere accident. But 
it was the Lord's way to take some more of them 
home. 



OIT (»F THK lUUAKS 



It was not a hard matter tor lis to sleep the 
first nit^ht. A\'e spread our rubber Ijlankets on 
the bare ground and enjoyed our rest as much 
as if our beds had been made of feathers. The 
next morning- we saw the body of a man floating 
down the muddy river. He too had evidently 
met with some accident, or had been killed and 
thrown into the river. It was not our duty to 
make any investigation. 

I prepared the best breakfast possible for the 
boys. Our fuel was gathered from the woods 
and rail fences. I said woods, but unfortunately 
there was not a tree in the whole country, so we 
had t(j do the best we could. Ijut we had coffee, 
rice, sweet potatoes and our regular rations. We 
put up our tents here and soon had the cam[) 
under military discipline. Then we left for 
IJrownsville, Texas, a distance of twenty miles. 
The march was a trying one on account of the 
Ixad roads. A\'e were not able to keep our stores 
with us on this account and left a detail of sol- 
diers to guard them. Many a solder sickened 
and had to be taken to AVhite Ranch to be cared 
for by Orderly Hill. Some of the men died 
on the way and were buried under the Texas .sod 
with no stone to identify them. One boat was 
on its \va\' to llrownsville with rations. I remem- 
ber my homesickness at this time. After the bat- 
tles had been fought, I was anxious to return to 



y\\ WAH HK('Oltl) SI 

my loved ones. I felt that my duty had been 
done towards m}- country and that now I must 
take up my duty to my dear ones, ^^"e Avere soon 
joined by Orderly Hill. He said that he had got- 
ten tired Avaiting for the boat and had come on 
to be with us. He threw a few chunks together 
and started a hre and lighted his pipe. After a 
few moments reflection, he said : "These light 
afflictions are but for a moment, for they work 
for us a far more and exceeding weight of glory." 
^\'e met a drove of hungry wolves which made 
two or three attempts to come to us, but about 
fifteen shots from our guns were enough to sat- 
isfy them they had no more need of us than we 
had of them. In time we reached Brownsville. 
We saw strange things there. The houses were 
little huts ; the people dressed in their shirts and 
drawers; the women dressed in a long shirt with 
their breast exposed, seemingly caring nothing 
for decenc}' or modesty. It did not look to me 
that the people here had ever known what it was 
to know or to serve the true and living God. They 
were certainly far from any such practical knowl- 
edge, judging from their daily lives. I thought 
"If the righteous scarcely be saved where then 
shall the siiuier and the ungodly appear?" The 
next morning I was not feeling well. I went to 
one of the streams and bathed. There were 
plenty of lizards, frogs and horned toads about. 



OCT OF THE BRIAKS 



The horns of the toad reminded one of the horns 
of a goat. It was a place of trials. Some of the 
jiien swore and cursed, others were kept too busy 
scratching-, while others were praying. It was 
a time of sore trials. One of our officers, Cap- 
tain Clark ought to have been with the Greys in- 
stead of the Blues, he had so little use for the 
Colored troops. So he marched them almost to 
death on this march. Colonel \\'ooster, a man 
of tender feeling and of a proper sense of right 
and justice and without prejudice against the 
Colored people, saw the outrage perpetrated 
against us and put Clark under arrest. He was 
kept there until Colonel Wooster resigned. After 
he left, we were again under the command of 
Captain Claik. Orderly Hill was very sick and 
was ordered to the General Hospital. As I look- 
ed upon him I sjid to myself. Hill you are a very 
sick man and your warfare is about ended. There 
were about seven hundred in the hospital sick. 
They were treated as if they had been brutes, 
doctors and nurses being without any feeling. 
They were dying at the rate of ten a day. The 
stewards would search the dead, take their valu- 
ables, then report them dead. What a contrast 
between our camp on the banks of the James 
Rivei" and the camp in this lar off, God-for-sak- 
en town of Brownsville, Texas. 

And now after all our hard fought battles, our 



.M> WAH RECOKD 



fears and foreboding, our privations and losses, 
we received the news from the War Department 
that the Twenty-ninth Regiment was ordered 
home. It is needless to say, that the iiome-fever 
spread more rapidly than any fever that had ever 
prevailed in our ranks. We looked for and pa- 
tiently awaited the day when we would be or- 
dered out. On tlie fourteenth day of October, 
1865, at nine o'clock a. m., the recruiting officer 
was on the ground, at which time Company K. 
was mustered out. We were escorted through 
Brownsville by the Ninth U. S. C. T., Colonel 
Bailey being in command. We marched to an 
open field where the two regiments bid each other 
goodbye. It was an impressive scene, for these 
regiments had shared each others fortunes and 
misfortunes through the war. They had become 
inseparable, but now the best of friends must 
part. How happy we were that we should be 
permitted to breathe the fresh air again and to 
tramp through the country as free men. Yet I 
had the feeling that the Civil War was the migh- 
ty struggle of the White Race and that the strug- 
gle of the Colored Race was yet in the future. 
There is such a thing as a man having to work 
out of his own salvation, and this is also true 
of a race. Our salvation had been bought for us 
by the nation, but it is ours now^ to work out this 
salvation. As we marched out through the grand 



S4 OTT np TlIK r.ItlAltS 

country and these thoughts came to me, I cried 
out to God. "Can these dry hones Hve? Will 
this country i^ive the Colored man an equal- 
chance in the marts of trade, in industrial fields^ 
and in the professions? He is yet untried in the 
ranks of an aggressive civilization, for he has 
been a slave. Can these dry IxDues live?"' These 
were the prayer-thoughts that were filling my 
mind and heart. CXn- march was a trying one 
on account of the bad condition of the roads, but 
we were going home. No one but the soldier 
who has been honorably discharged after an issue 
has been settled, knows the joys that well-up in 
the heart as he turns his face homeward. The 
feeling is indescribable. There were several boys 
sick, but their spirits were revived on account of 
home-going. We soon reached Brazos where we 
spent the night. I was very glad to sa}' goodb}e 
to my Texas friends and experience. They could 
live on the sandy plains of Brownsville, as long 
as they pleased; they could eat the strips of dried 
goat meat until they were satisfied ; the}' ciiuld 
drink and relisli the muddy water of the Rio 
(Grande considering it the best \\ ater in the world ; 
but as for me. T would choose other cjuarters. 
Now^ that the Confederacy had surrendered, now 
that the I'almetto Mag had been lowered forever 
and ( )ld (dory floated in its stead, now tiiat mil- 
lions of peoi)le were made free and c<iuld live and. 



>IV WAR KKC'OHI* 



think as real men and A\ometi, I was more than 
happy to say goodbye to all these things and be- 
gin life anew. 

We embarked on the transport Alabama, for 
New Orleans. .Our voyage on the gulf was a 
rough one on account of a heavy storm. We 
were forced to cast anchor. Wc passed Galves- 
ton and were much pleased with the place. We 
found the citizens much more sociable than wc 
had expected, for we knew that they were Se- 
cessionists and Rebels and that they had about 
as much use for Negro soldiers as the Devil has 
for Holy Water. Nevertheless, we went through 
the town and made the acquaintance of some of 
our brethren: We met an old lady who had been 
a slave. When she saw us and realized that the 
victorious end had come, she cried at the top of 
her voice. "The Lord, the Mighty One has con- 
(|nered and we are all free ! Glory to God !" We 
took on wood and I regulated my rations for we 
were four hundred and fifty miles from New 
Orleans. We were again on board the transport 
for New Orleans, but we were unable to leave 
the harbor on account of a fearful gale that 
swept the gulf. We made an atteiupt, but were 
forced back again into the harl)or. The soldiers 
became quite unruly owing to their impatience 
and also, I suppose the feeling that they could 
do as they pleased, .\fter a hard voyage we 



OUT OF Tin: BIMAKS 



landed safely in New Orleans. We found an 
open lot in the south side of the city and put up 
our tents and made ready for a good night's 
sleep. We felt that we could sleep now. That 
we had taken part in a mighty conflict and had 
shared in the victories of the war, it was now 
^•ur right to rest. It was the sleep of the just 
man. 

We had a quiet Sunday in New Orleans. Our 
chaplain preached for us. Great crowds came 
c»ut to visit us and to give us their most hearty 
congii^atulatibns. They gave us coffee, sand- 
wiches, fruits, etc.. in token of the appreciation 
of our services in their hehalf. We saw strange 
things in New Orleans. We found the mixture 
•of French and Negro, called the Creole, speaking 
a dialect of the French. We found the Octoroon 
and that some of these unions had from one to 
seven children. We found that marriage among 
them was rather an uncommon thing and that a 
man could establish almost any relationship that 
pleased him and enter into the Creole life and 
1>e received and welcomed as one of them. We 
found that they drank more claret, champagne, 
whisky, beer, etc., than they did water. They of 
•course had no sense of their obligation to God 
and I supi)ose that many of them really had no 
conception of the Real and True God. Their 
!lives gave no evidence of such a knowledge. 



MY V\'AH KEC(>H[> 



The first annual conference of the A. M. E. 
Church was being held by Bishop J. P. Canip- 
l)ell. We enjoyed the services very much being 
in the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were 
in New Orleans two weeks. At the end of this 
time one of the men was shot. This created quite 
an excitement among us. We broke camp soon 
and marched through the streets to the wharf 
where we took ship. We were enthusiastically 
greeted on every hand, receiving god-speeds and 
congratulations and blessings. I shall never for- 
get the musical voices of the people as they sang. 
The music sounded like a thousand silver harps, 
so soft and delicate and stirring it was ! We went 
on board the steamer Champion. We said good- 
l)ye to the old city of New Orleans and to many 
of the new friends which we had made. We 
had a heavy sea. The storms were terrific. 
( »ur clothes were almost continuously wet owing 
to the rocking of the vessel, for days it was im- 
[>ossible to find a place to sleep. The voyage was 
quite rough all the way to New York. At last 
we arrived at New York City. It was morning. 
W^e remained on board until about two p. m., 
when we left the boat and marched through' the 
])rincipal streets, receiving cheers and salutes. We 
had not forgotten our former experiences here 
however. And we were inwardly revolving the 
thought that as Black men we had done our part 



fUTT OF THE JiKJAKS 



in bringing about a change of sentiment that 
would make a new city out of New York and 
every other city in the Union. And we felt that 
it was but just that we should receive some of 
the plaudits of praise and reward. When we 
passed down Broadway in front of the St. Nich- 
olas Hotel, the flags of the Nation and of the 
state were suddenly hoisted by a Colored man 
and we gave three lusty cheers for the flag and 
country and home. At last the orders came to 
fall into line for our final trip. We marched 
to pier twenty eight East River where the steam- 
er, Granite State, was waiting to carry us to 
Hartford, Conn. The distance was about one 
hundred and fifty miles. We were cheered by 
every town and village that we passed. We ar- 
rived at Hartford and were escorted to the camp 
grounds and tendered a fine reception by the 
citizens, a most pleasing welcome. 

At eight o'clock one morning we were paid 
off, all but one hundred dollars bounty whicli 
was to be paid at some future date. Some went 
to their homes, others remained in Hartford, un- 
til they had spent all their money and were lock- 
ed up in the prisons by the police officers. After 
having cleared up my commissary department 
and turning over my books and papers to the 
j)roper custodian, and having said farewell to my 
comrades, I tof>k a midnight train for my home 
in New Haven. 



MY W AK (IKroiM) 



The occasion of my sudden departure from 
Hartford is very interesting-. One of our sol- 
diers was passing a Jew store. He was begged 
to go in and buy a suit. He got the suit of clothes 
and walked out without paying for it. The sol- 
dier came into camp and soon the Jew followed. 
I would not allow him to enter camp and arrest 
the soldier. Not long afterward, I went down 
town and the Jew had me arrested and locked 
up. 1 was in jail until about midnight when 
some of my friends liberated me. Immediately 
I made my way to the station and left Hartford. 
I do not know that the Jew got his money and 
I was not much concerned. 

I arrived at home at seven o'clock in the 
morning and found my wife and children, my 
father and mother, ready to give me the most 
hearty welcome and greeting which I received 
with a glad heart. I was not seen out of my 
house for about three weeks. I simply wanted 
to rest and to drink in the joys that were await- 
ing me. Then I went to Brooklyn, my wife's 
liome, and registered as a citizen of the United 
States. I again thanked God that the war was 
over and that slavery was dead. "Now unto Him 
that hath loved us and washed us from our sins 
in His blood, to Him he glory and dominion and 
power, now and forevermore. Amen !" 




ALEXANDERS. NEWTON 

A Young Pastor 



iig mtui^terial lEttV 



/ 



Ml] iMtuiBtrrial 2IttV anil ffiabiira 



After I had returned from the war, I took 
the needed rest, enjoyed the company of my 
family and got myself together for a new life. 
1 had the consciousness of having done my duty 
to my country, of having contributed something 
to the liberation of my people from the galling 
yoke of slavery, and now the time had come in 
my life for me to determine upon what course I 
could enter that would contribute most to the 
working out of the salvation of my people upon 
lines of peace and prosperity. This was no little 
task. I decided that the best way to find out 
what God wanted me to do, was to follow the 
leading of His Providence in my life. I knew of 
no other way by wdiich a man can ascertain the 
will of God. God is in the life of every indivi- 
dual as fully and really as He is in the life of a 
race or a nation. So I surrendered myself to 
His leading, determined that I would follow Him 
whatever might be the cost. I felt a double as- 
surance now that He had delivered, me from 
death in many bloody struggles, that He had 
.'something of importance for me to do. I was 

93 



OUT OF TflK UHIAKS 



not content to take up the old life that I had 
lived before the war, to remain in the fields of 
manual labor, not that I considered myself above 
such a life, but I felt that there was a course that 
would be vastly more valuable to my brethren, 
to my race. And I did not consider it egotism 
to honestly conclude that God had given me tal- 
ents that warranted me in seeking such a course. 
"To every man according to his ability," is the 
law of service. A man must find out what his 
ability is, God already knows what talents He 
has already alloted to this or that man according 
to his ability. In this way and this way only, 
can God and man be brouglit together, in the 
work of life. 

On the evening of May sixth, I was received 
on probation, into the Fleet Street A. M. K. 
Church, of which IClder Gould wa.-; then jjastor. I 
served as assistant superintendent and Secretary, 
Elder Cope l>eing superintendent of the Sunday 
School ; Robert Tiirpin, one of the preachers, 
was a close friend. 1 \vas engaged while in 
this church together with otliers in a Social Bet- 
terment work. This work was conducted in a 
house to house canvass, or visit. Great work was 
done during this year at the Bridge Street A. M. 
E. Church the Rev. \Vm. Winder being pastor, 
There were about one hundred and fifty young 
people added to the church on profession of their 




BISHOP J ABEZ P. CAMPBELL, D. D., LL. D. 

Who gave me my first appointment 



MY MlNrSTKKlAL LIP'K 



faith in Christ. The Revs. Williams, Boyer, and 
Turpin, were the ministers who assisted in this 
revival. 

I preached my trial sermon at the Fleet Street 
Church on the evening of September the i8th, 
1871, and received Exhorters' license from Elder 
Theodore Gould. On the following Sunday, I 
went with Rev. Matthews and others to Pater- 
son, N. J., where we organized the A. M. E. 
Church. The people of Paterson seemed to have 
been greatly lifted up and great good was done 
in their city for the A. M. E. Church. Later on 
Bishop J. P. Campbell told Elder Gould that he 
wanted a yoimg man to take charge of a church 
where a school was located. Brother Gould was 
kind enough to tell him of my desire for work 
and doubtless recommended me. Bishop Camp- 
l)ell took hold of me and gave me my first a])- 
pointment at Pennington, N. J., where I took 
charge of the church and attended the school, 
Pennington Seminary. The leaders of the new 
church, Brothers Allen, Ely and Amanias John- 
son looked at the new preacher very inquiringly 
and doubtless were laughing up their sleeves for 
I had not gotten the flimsy, panhandle, look off 
me as yet, and they were a little slow in taking 
hold of me and I did not know how to take hold 
of them. However, T managed to get on the 
liocKl side of Bro. Allen. 1 told him the troubles 



!H! mUT of TIIK H hi a us 

of my heart and got his sympathy. One of these 
troubles was that I did not know much. He said 
that he would help me all he could and that I 
must stay close to the cross of Christ. So with 
the assistance of God's grace and the help of 
Brother Allen, I was able to surmount all ob- 
stacles. I organized a church in the house of 
Lewis Schenks, at Lawrencevillc; 

I organized the church at Birmingham, having 
Ix^en assisted by Brothers Jos. Long and Maxwell 
Frost of Trenton. This church was afterwards 
reorganized and moved to Langhorne by Dr. 
John W. Stevenson. I attended the Pennington 
Seminary under the presidency of Dr. Hanlon. 
Rev. Mr. Marshall and the sister of Dr. Hanlon 
were of great service to me in my preparatory 
course. One day I was walking through the cani- 
])ass when I met Dr. Hanlon. He stopped aud 
fixing his eyes on me said: "Young man you 
should walk upright before God and remember 
that all your strength comes from Him." I .shall 
never forget the deep impression that his advice 
made on me. It deepened my conviction of the 
Divine life in man and of the necessity of liv- 
ing that life daily. I felt no doubt like Naaman 
that I had need to go to the Jordan, the river 
of Israel and be wa.shed from my leprosy of 
sin. This was the first time that I had charge uf 
a church and I felt the keen responsibility. 




REV. THEODORE GOULD, D.D„ 

Who gave me my first license to preach. 



MY MINISTERIAL LIFK 97 

And I do not doubt that those who heard 
me preach had the feeHng that instead of my 
having charge of them that they should have 
charge of me. But such things are of the order- 
ing of the Lord who chooses babes to confound 
the wise and the weak things of the world to 
confound the mighty. There is a time when a 
man feels that the best thing that he can do is 
to get out of self into Christ. Self is one of the 
greatest blessings if Christ is its center, but if 
man himself constitutes the center of life it is the 
stronghold of every sin. 

While engaged in this work I frequently had 
to walk ten miles to Sorel Mountain, one of my 
appointments, which was a part of this circuit. 
Aly salary was indeed very small, but they fed 
me and cared for me the best they could, and 
God did the rest. I closed my work here with 
twenty-three converts added to "the church. 
As I write these lines, I look back to see the rav- 
ages of time and what they have wrought. Those 
who were received into the church by me at that 
time, with very few exceptions, have iinisheil 
their battle of life and completed their labors, 
long since, and have gone home to render a bet- 
ter service than they could have rendered here. 

I made improvements on the Church buildings 
of the circuit and was able to make a good re- 
port to the Conference which met at Philadelphia. 



98 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

At this conference I was received into member- 
ship by Bishop Paul Quinn. It was here that I 
made for the first time, nw acquaintance with 
Dr. B. T. Tanner, Rev. T. G. Stewart, Rev. Fris- 
by Cooper and others. Rev. Joshua Woodland 
Avas my presiding elder. I was permitted to at- 
tend the Lincoln University, in Chester County, 
Pennsylvania. I was supported by Mr. Amos 
Clark Junion of Elizabeth, X. J., and preached 
on Sundays in the Siloam Presbyterian church. 
Here I made the acquaintance of a local preacher, 
Rev. David Croshon, of the A. 'M. E. Church 
and Brother Scisco from whom I learned a great 
deal about church work. Being wholly inexper- 
ienced and poorly educated, I felt the curse of 
the regime of slavery, although I had never been 
a slave. I longed for the equipment that comes 
from a thorough education and realized that if 
in some way I did not educate myself, I could 
never amount to much. So it is hard for me at 
my time of life although a closer student than 
ever, to understand or to be in sA'mpathy with 
any preacher who in his ignorance, is satisfied 
to remain so. There is something sadly lacking 
in such a man and I greatly fear those qualities 
without which no man is either acceptable to 
God or to the church, as a minister of the Gos- 
pel. 

I realized also that in addition to mv own 




BISHOP WILLIAM PAUL QUINN 

Who received me into the Conference 



^rY MFXISTERIAT. LIFE 99 

weakness that this world was no friend to grace 
to help me on to God. I had many foes within 
and without me to overcome. 

In June, 1870. I was requested by Bishop J. 
P. Campbell to report at the Philadelphia Con- 
ference, he having-, in the interval taken me up 
and sent me to the Pennington circuit. I report- 
ed at the conference and was transferred to the 
South under the care of Bishop John M. Brown. 
I was sent to Pulaski, Tenn. This was about 
the time that the Klu Klux Klan was having its 
sway in the south. These men were engaged in 
every kind of intimidation and cruelty in order 
to keep the Negroes from voting the Republican 
ticket. They would kill, torture, or do anything 
that came into mind in order that their purpose 
might be realized. At this time there were many 
Colored people holding office in the South. The 
unrest and the mental suffering of these times 
were as severe a strain almost as the period of 
the war itself. When I arrived at Pulaski, Tenn. 
I was introduced to what I might expect in the 
South. I presented my check to the baggage 
master for my trunk. He refused to take tne 
trunk off the car, but threw it upon the platform 
in the roughest manner. A White man standing 
near, saw that I was very much surprised at such 
treatment and approaching me. asked if I did not 
like that kind of treatment and that if I did not 



100 OUT OF thh: BKIAKS 

he would ])rocee(l to give me some more of it. I 
told him that I had made no complaints at all. 
He asked me where I was going and what I was 
■doing, and I was glad to slip away and find the 
steward of the church. I related these things to 
him and he told me that I had acted wisely in 
being- calm and making no fuss over- the matter. 
He told me that the White folks were Klu Klux- 
ing the Colored people without mercy and going 
•out of their way to find provocations for such 
■devilish work. The steward told me that I would 
liave to be very careful as a minister in and out 
of the pulpit, that the Klu Klux Klan was es- 
pecially after the preachers to force them to use 
their influence to make the Negroes vote the 
Democratic ticket in elections. 

They found me a boarding place with a iNIrs. 
Batts. I found that the Colored men of this 
community were doing good business. One was 
a cotton merchant, a ]Mr. Harris, I remember. I 
-was greatly assisted in this charge by my local 
preachers. They were more experienced than I 
in the work of the pastorate and I felt them to 
be my sui)eriors in everything. The meetings, 
were good. Souls were converted and many were 
added to the church. There was not much money 
in circulation and the salary was small. TheJk' 
used cards to trade with, postage stamps, and 
whatever of value would be accepted or exchang- 



MY MlMSTIMtl Al, LIFK KH 

ed for what you wanted. I remember one nii;iit 
the Khi Khix Klan came to the house of one of 
my members, a INTr. Pleasant Rector, called him 
to the door and shot him down as if he had been 
a dog. His wife and children were frightened 
almost to death. One of his daughters asked me 
what she must do. I could tell her that nothing 
would help such dreadful matters, so we all went 
to the church and prayed over the matter, and 1 
consoled them as best I could. These were dread- 
ful times. The hatred and the revenge of ihe 
Southern White man \\'ho had been whipped by 
his Northern White Brother, were now visited 
upon the still helpless race. We had to receive 
the very wounds which the Southerners would 
loved to have visited upon his White brothers, 
and which they tried to visit upon them in war. 
but failed. We did a good work here along 
temperance and missionary lines. 

In September. 1873, the Conference convened 
at Memphis. Tenn. This was the annual con- 
ference of the A. ]\I. E. Churcli and it convened 
at the St. Andrews Chapel of that city. Rev. B. 
L. Brooks, preached the opening sermon. The 
Ijishop, John M. Brown, was belated, so the con- 
ference proceeded with business, having made 
Elder Page Tyler chairman, and Elder Brooks, 
secretary. The regular routine of business was 
purpo'sed. Bishop Brown arrived on the fourth 



102 HIT OF THE BRIARS 

day, having gotten his dates mixed, then he was 
afraid that at that time it was unwise to hold 
any piibHc meetings owing to the presence of yel- 
low fever in the city. The Conference remained 
in session until it had completed its business. 
Yellow fever at this time was raging in Mem- 
phis. A friend told me that he stood at a street 
corner and counted seventy-four funerals as they 
passed. In the house where I was stopping, there 
was a yellow fever case in the room next to 
mine. The meeting of the Conference in ]\iem- 
phis was a very successful one considering the 
obstacles contended against. 

The following Conference held a year later, 
was in Nashville, Tenn. This Conference was 
presided over by Bishop Brown. At this con- 
ference several were ordained as deacons, among 
them myself. While at Nashville, the Confer- 
ence visited Fisk University and also the Ten- 
nessee college. 

During this time I remained at Campbell 
Chapel, Pulaski, Tenn. We bought ground and 
made brick and quarried stone, for the basement 
of a church. There were about fifty members 
added to the church. 

I cannot refrain from speaking frequently of 
the great injustice done the Colored man in the 
South at this time. Prejudice was rife. It show- 
ed its hydra-head in every possible way and was 



MY MINISTERIAL LIFE 103 

a serpent with a venomed sting. I remember an 
incident which illustrates how fearful this preju- 
dice was. I saw a White man bring his horse 
up to a public watering- place, and alx)ut the same 
time a Colored man drove his horse up to the 
same trough. He said to the Colored man, "A 
Nigger's horse can't drink with my horse," and 
ordered him away. Immediately a mob gathered 
and beat the man to death for this "crime.'' I 
preached the funeral of the poor fellow, but was 
not allo\Ved to refer to the circumstances, or I 
suppose there would have been another funeral 
in a day or so. My report at the end of this year 
was a reasonably good one, the number who had 
joined the church was about one hundred and ten 
and for all purposes we raised about $2,518.00. 
I was indeed very well satisfied with the work 
of the year. 

The next Conference met in Chattanooga. This 
conference was presided over by Bishop Brown^ 
assisted by Bishop Ward. The various reports 
showed the church to be in a growing and pros- 
perous condition. The Conference report show- 
ed 9527 members of the A. M. E. Church in this 
Conference, 1122 probationers, 210 local preach- 
ers, 120 exhorters, 114 churches, valued at $io5,- 
101.00. This was a good showing so soon after 
the war. At this Conference I was appointed 
to a charge in Chattanooga, Tenn., with Elder 



104 OUT OF THK BRIARS 

R. French Harley as my presiding" elder. We 
had a fearful flood during this year in Chata- 
nooga. There was great suffering and loss ot 
property. I did not do well in this charge, how- 
ever I completed the church and added 86 to the 
membership of the Church. I found that it was 
necessary to turn two men out of the church, for 
their misconduct. They gained the confidence 
and bias, of the presiding elder, and he moved 
me from this place. Thus it is that a man must 
suffer for the right that he does, while many go 
unpunished for the evil doings. But that should 
afford no reason for not always doing the right. 
We. as ministers of the Gospel, must take our 
stand for the uprightness of character and the 
righteousness of conduct, without any consider- 
ation of the price which this stand will cost us. 
Bishop Brown transferred me to the Arkansas 
Conference, which met at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 
At this conference I was ordained Elder by Bish- 
op Brown and sent to the Bethel A. M. E. Church 
at Little Rock, Arkansas. 

I found in this city the prejudice against the 
Colored people rife and that they had to contend 
against very great odds on every hand. But in 
spite of this, many of the Colored people were 
in a flourishing condition. There were men 
prominent in the ministry who had gone out from 
this place, such as Revs. H. H. Pettigrew, Reuben 



MY :sriNISTEHIAL LIFE 10.") 

Johnson, A. A. Williams, J. F. A. Sission, J. T. 
Jennifer, Andrew J. Chambers, and others. The 
lion. Judge Gibbs, William Rector, and Elias 
Rector who was fulfilling- a prominent place in 
the post office were leading business men. The 
church here was built by Brother J. T. Jennifer. 
D.i). Aly daughter Ada was with me at this 
time, my son William Alexander, having remain- 
ed in Tennessee. There were many noble work- 
ers in this church, viz : Joseph Stone, Jerome 
Lewis, Nelson Warren, Sam Wliite. Willie Oli- 
ver, and others whose names are too numerous 
to mention. 

^ly wife, Olivia Xevvton having died in 1868, 
and being a widower, while here I became ac- 
quainted with a young lady, ]\Iiss Lulu L. Camp- 
bell, secretary of the Sunday School. I found 
her to be a noble Christian woman and felt that 
the Lord had brought us into contact for a great 
purpose. After having considered the matter 
and having consulted my daughter and finding 
that she approved, we were married June i, 1876. 

After paying off a little more of the debt on 
the church and adding' about ninety souls to the 
membership of the church, I finished my first 
year's work. The Conference met the following 
year at the Bethel Church, Little Rock. At this 
Conference I was transferred by lUshop 
Ward to the Louisiana Conference and was 



km; out op thk briars 

to have been stationed at the St. James 
Church, New Orleans, but owing to some miscar- 
riage in the appointments, I was given the sta- 
tion at Algiers, La. There as in other places, I 
was not long in arranging and drilling my forces 
for active work. We succeeded in repairing the 
church, but were greatly hindered by the ragings 
of smallpox and yellow fever in this section. I 
remember a fearful example of the work of the 
K. K. K. in this section. A woman had been 
taken l;)y this devilish clan and they had cut off 
her breasts. She showed her bosom to a few and 
they had done their work well, for her bosom 
was as flat as a man's. These were some of the 
outrages that were continually committed on the 
Colored people. It is sometimes wondered at, 
that the Colored people are so slow to place con- 
fidence in the White Race, that they too, have a 
deep seated prejudice which now and then crops 
out in some vile offense against the White Race, 
if our White friends only understood that these 
fearful atrocities committed then and even now, 
against my people, are not easily forgotten, they 
would the better understand. Human nature is 
the same and it will require a great deal of the 
grace of God to smother out all the horrible 
memories that have passed from individual hearts 
into the heart of the Race to which I belong. 
But the time will doubtless come and then we 
will, see a different state of affairs. 



MY >riNISTKKlAL LIFK 107 

I remember another incident at this place. As 
I have said, the smallpox was raging'. I was in- 
vited to conduct the funeral of a small boy who 
had died of this disease. \\'hen I went to the 
house and was seen by the mother, she rushed 
to me and threw her arms about me and wept. 
Of course she had been nursing- the child. I was 
greatly annoyed In' this foolish act which threat- 
ened the health of my own family, but as the 
good Lord willed, nothing came of it. After do- 
ing my best here, I decided that I would not stay 
longer. I consulted Bishop Ward and others. 
They told me that I was making a very unwise 
step, but I got a transfer and went to Bishop 
Brown in the North Carolina Conference. The 
Conference met November 14th. at the Gaston 
Chapel, Alo.rgantown, N. C, presided over by 
Bishop Brown. The regular routine of business 
was taken up and the reports showed a grow- 
ing condition of the church. Dr. H. M. Turner, 
manager of the Publication Department and J. 
H. W. Burley, financial secretary, appeared and 
made their reports. The number of members in 
the Conference as reported were, 5 131 ; probation- 
ers 877 ; churches 58 ; support of pastors $4749.- 
51. I was received into this Conference and ap- 
pointed to the station, Raleigh. N. C. 

I had instructions to go to Mr. Norfleet Dun- 
son, but he was away and I was sent to Air. 
Stewart Ellisons'. 



lOS ot'T OF TIIK r.HIAUS 

When I went to Raleigh, I had a very dis- 
couraging experience. I drove up to a Brother 
Ellisons', rapped on the door. A lady came to 
the door. I told her that I was the preacher who 
had been sent to the St. Paul's A. I\[. E. Church. 
She informed me that all her family had gone 
to the funeral, so I had my trunk brought upon 
the jDorch and sat down upon it. She had evi- 
dently expected me to come in when tlie trunk 
was safely on the porch. But I remained in the 
porch, being worn out and out of patience. 

Presently she came out and invited me in. I 
told her that no one was at home but herself 
and that I Avould remain outside until the folks 
came home. She said. "Xow I don't want any 
foolishness around here, if you have been sent 
here to be pastor of our church, you come right 
in." Well, that was hearty enough a reception, 
a positive command, of course I obeyed orders, 
I had learned this in the army. Soon the family 
returned. They were delighted to see me, built 
a bne tire, made ready a fine supper, and after a 
social time I was sent to a good bed. After I 
retired I felt very much ashamed of myself for 
the ugly feeling I had harbored and repented of 
my sins. It never pays to allow one's bad feel- 
ings to get the better of their good feelings, for 
they always pay a big price for the victory. Afy 
c»fficial board was made up of John O'Kelley, 



MT MINTSTERIAT. LIFK 109 

Stewart Ellison, Norfleet Dunson, Seth Nowell, 
and Henry Hunter. They were a very fine set 
of men. We went to work in earnest, bought 
a lot and paid off a great many debts. There 
were over 230 accessions to the church, of whom 
I baptized about 150 by immersion. I received 
a salary of $1000.00 which was very large at 
that time in our Connection. They gave me 
$75.00 that I might bring my wife and daughter 
from Algiers, La. The Colored people at this 
place were very successful in business and of 
good reputation and character. The White peo- 
ple, that is those especially interested in us, were 
very kind indeed. A Mrs. Dorr, (white) was 
principal of the school for Colored children. She 
did a great deal for the uplifting of the Race. 
Mr. Tupper, (white) was the president of Shaw 
University, a Baptist school of the Colored peo- 
ple. ]\Iy daughter, Ada, taught rhetoric, in the 
Shaw University. 

I concluded my work at this place and was- 
able to carry to the Conference fine reports. This 
was largely due to the fact that the church was 
very spiritual. It was on the Lord's side on all 
those questions which affect the religion of a 
community. Sometimes a minister is looked up- 
on as the cause of the failures of a church, in 
its work, as a rule he is blamed, but this is a 
anistake. The general cause is to be found in the 



110 OUT (»P TIIK DRIAI'vS 

church. A good church with a i)oor pastor will 
succeed, but a bad church with a good pastor is 
liable to fail. Christ could do no mighty works 
in a certain place because of their unb.elief. There 
are many good preachers who are unable to do 
good work because of the unbelief of the people 
and the consequence of this unbelief. It acts as 
a kind of paralysis, and indeed it is, a paralysis 
of the church. 

I left this church for the station of X'ewberne, 
N. C. This was my birthplace. I was really 
glad to get back to the place where I first saw 
the light. I had been absent for twenty years. 
I saw that great changes had taken place during 
this time. There were no slave gangs, no whip- 
ping posts, no slave pen, no auction block. One 
of the first things that I did was to go to see a 
tree opposite the house of Bob Walker, in an old 
field, the spot where Tom Lewis had been 
whipped nearly to death for attacking a White 
man. After they had nearly killed him they took 
him down to the boat and put him on it and told 
him that he was never to put the prints of his 
feet on that part of the country again. 

I was received very cordially by the church 
members. Many of them I remembered as my 
friends twenty years ago and longer. I had 
charge of Rue's Chapel. My first year was a 
very successful one. I was returned again the 
second year. 



MV MINISTERIAL TJFK 111 

Newberne has quite a history. It is situated 
on the banks of two rivers, the Xeuse and Trent 
rivers. The ehn trees are magnificent. Here Uved 
the Stevenses, Jenkinses, lirvans, Webbs, and 
others, all old slave owners. The\' were of course 
deeply interested in the trafific and did all in their 
power to keep the regime from passing away. 
There was a Colored man at this place that own- 
ed slaves also, a Mr. J. S. Stanley. Newberne 
was a great tur])entine center. There were tur- 
pentine distilleries here and about here. But 
great changes had taken place. The magnificent 
dwelling house of the Stevens was now occupied 
ed by a Colored man and run as a hotel. A Air. 
George H. White was the superintendent of the 
public schools, (Colored) at this place and had 
also a law ofifice. He afterwards became solici- 
tor of state and a memlier of the U. S. Congress. 
He is now the president of a Savings Bank, on 
Lombard Street, Philadelphia, Penna. i\Ir. Syl- 
vester ]\Iackey and Judge Mumford,. were mer- 
chants. Presiding Elder, Edward Hill, of the 
Zion A. M. E. Church, was a wealthy planter. 
]\Irs. Edward R. Richardson was a clerk in the 
Post Ofifice. Mr. John Willis was a deputy 
sherifif. These and other men and women had 
made good their opportunities. They had not 
only welcomed the change from slavery but they 
had taken their places as freedmen among the citi- 



]\2 (^TT OF TIIK BRIARS 

zens of this country and had demonstrated that 
they had in them that out of which the best citi- 
zens are made. I forgot to mention that the Rev. 
J. C. Price, D.D., former president of Livingston 
College, Salisbury, N. C, was born at this town. 
Dr. Price was one of the most distinguished ora- 
tors, educators and scholars of the country re- 
gardless of color. 

After my second year at this place, I attended 
the General Conference of the A. M. E. Church 
which met in St. Louis, ]\Io. I took my wife 
and baby and we went up on boat. ^ly daughter 
Ada returned to Shaw University. Raleigh, X. C. 
where she was an instructor. At St. Louis. I 
met a great many ministers whom I knew and 
many more with whom I got well acquainted. I 
was quite indisposed while there, but was able 
to attend the sessions of the Conference. It was 
at this Conference that Elder R. H. Cain, D.D., 
made his defense against the charge of malad- 
ministration in office. And I am sure that it was 
his noble defense that brought about his election 
to the office of Bishopric. While in St. Louis, 
I visited some of the places of interest. I called 
upon ]\Ir. J. Alilton Turner, editor of the Free- 
man's Journal who afterward represented the 
I'. S. as minister to Hayti. 

I visited a large Catholic (Roman) school. 
This was mx brst visit to a Roman Catholic 



MY MINISTERIAL LIPK IIH 

institution of any kind. I was deeply impressed 
with the services, with the use of crucitixes, and 
the place that images held in their service. It 
was very strange to me. I could not understand 
how their minds and hearts could be fixed on God 
while at the same time they were giving so much 
time to these genuflections, rituals, and ceremon- 
ies. I remembered the second commandment. I 
saw that this commandment was being broken. 
For there were the images and likenesses of 
things in Heaven and on the earth, if not under 
earth. And yet at the same time these people 
seemed to be in earnest, they did what they hail 
before them with a devotion that attracted. But 
it was all wrong because the \\'ord of God in 
one of the the Ten Commandments condemned 
it. The Roman Catholic Church with all its 
]iomp. pride and wealth, is wrong in its funda- 
mental principals and is therefore guilty of idol- 
atry — they are not worshipping God only, they 
are worshipping saints and other divinities. 

On Thursday, May 20, 1880, Revs. H. M. Tur- 
ner. R. H. Cain, W. F. Dickerson were elected 
bishops of the A. ]\I. E. Church. Bishops Payne, 
Wayman, Campbell, Shorter, Ward and Brown, 
together with the required number of elders, of- 
ficiated. I left St. Louis and on my way home, 
stopped over in Little Rock, Ark., spending Sun- 
day there. It was my pleasure to preach in 



114 OUT OP THE BRIARS 

Bethel Church on Sunday afternoon, for the Rev. 
Dr. J. T. Jennifer, the pastor of the church. I 
enjoyed meeting my many old friends. I was 
soon back at my work in Newberne, N. C, and 
remained there until the end of the year. Quite 
a number of members united with the church 
and debts were paid off. My work at this place 
was reasonably successful. 

I attended the Conference that met in Raleigh, 
N. C. On account of my mother's health I re- 
quested a transfer from this section to the North, 
and at this Conference I was transferred to the 
Conference of New Jersey. I received appoint- 
ment to the station of Alorristown^ N. J. I ar- 
rived at Morristown with my daughter, Ada. It 
was midnight and very cold. I was somewhat 
discouraged. My daughter said to me, father, 
it is very cold and the outlook is a gloomy one. 
but I am here to stay with you and help all that 
I can. ( Poor child, long since she passed away 
to that country where the inhabitants are free 
from the tribulations of this world.) I was re- 
minded of a couplet in one of the old hymns, 

"Thy saints in all this gloric^us war 

Shall conquer though they die.'" 

I was sent to the Morristown station to fill 

out the unexpired term of the Rev. Mr. Smith 

deceased. We spent the night at tlie ])arsonage, 

then ^[r. licnry Ader, a prominent contractor 




BISHOP JOHN M. BROWN, D.D., D.CL. 

Who ordained me as an Elder. 



MV MINISTEKrAI. LIFE 115 

and steward in the church, came to see us and 
took us to his house until the parsonage was put 
in shape for us. We w^ere most pleasantly enter- 
tained by him. While in this field of labor I 
sought out a secret spot where I might meet 
with God and talk over with Him all the work 
that I was entering upon in this field. I realized 
that such an arrangement with God was best and 
one that every Christian who is doing business 
for the King, should have. So I regularly kept 
my engagements with God in this place. I put 
before Him all iu\- plans and went over them, 
seeking His wisdom and help. It is wonderful 
how He brings to our assistance His strength and 
grace when we honor Him as we should in this 
way. The Saviour Himself taught that we 
should have our closet, that is, a secret place, 
where we talk with God about everything that 
interests us. That we should not do as the 
Pharisees and Scribes, who loved to talk with 
God on the street corners and public places that 
they might be seen of men. "When thou prayest 
enter into thy closet and thy Father who seeth 
in secret shall reward thee openly." 

Mr. Henry Ader, Lansing Furman, George 
Yates, Nicholas Miller, Henry Johnson, Robert 
Gale, Preston Garland, together with their wives, 
were the active members in this church and they 
were indeed a noble band of workers. There 



11(5 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

was harmony in the clmrch between the members 
and a zeal marked with wisdom in their work. 
I was soon able to have my wife and children 
comje on from Little Rock. Ark. This getting to- 
gether again was a happy reunion of n%j>'''-, ho^iie. 
I found the Y. M. C. A. in this place to be a noble 
band of workers and very much interested in the 
colored people. Such influences as this are very 
inspiring to my people. I met and had the pleas- 
ant acquaintance while here of the pastor of the 
Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Dr. Erdman 
(white). I found him to be a noble Christian 
man and very deeply interested in the uplifting of 
-our people. He not only used his influence but 
contributed of his means for our welfare. I had 
the pleasure of preaching for him in his ow-n pul- 
pit. I might mention also a Dr. Owen, a physi- 
cian (white), who did a great deal for our people 
and cause. He assisted us in paying off the mort- 
gage on our Church and in getting the Church 
out of debt. In all these things I was able to see 
the gleams of the light of God's love shining 
do\\n upon us everv day. For we must remem- 
ber that the love and the friendship of our white 
friends are but the sunshine of God's love fall- 
ing upon us to bless us and to teach us that God 
has His own chosen ones in this worUl who arc 
living on the table land of Christian thought 
and activity, far above the swamps of prejudice 




REV. J. W. COOPER, 

Treasurer of the New Jersey Conference. 



MY MINISTER I AT- LIFK 117 

and racial animosity. We, too, should daily seek 
to live on these same highlands of God's love and 
peace. 

The Conference met at Princeton. N. J. I was 
received into the membership of this Conference 
and entered into the active duties thereof on com- 
mittees on which I was assigned. I found the 
brethren verv cordial in their welcome and pleas- 
ant as co-laborers in the Lord's work. I met here 
for the first time, Elders J. W. Cooper. J- H. 
Bean, George A. Mills, J. H. Morgan, R. Fau- 
cett, J. T. Diggs, Winston Taylor, J. R. V. Pierce. 
Wilson Patterson, S. B. Williams and others. I 
was assigned to Morristown and was much pleas- 
ed with the appointment. We had a very pleas- 
ant year as well as profitable. The Conference 
the following year was entertained by my Church. 
This meeting of the Conference was a very pleas- 
and and profitable one. The reports showed that 
in every way the denomination in this part of the 
vineyard was doing its work reasonably well. 
The Conference had the pleasure while here of 
visiting Drew Seminary. Some of our Bishops 
and leaders made addresses, which were kindly 
received judging from the responses on the part 
of the Faculty of this noble institution. This is 
a theological school of the M. E. Church. After 
the adjournment of the Conference I slipped 
awav for a much needed rest, not letting mv c^n- 



lis OTT OP THK BRIARS 

gregation or even my wife know where I was 
going. I went to New York City for a few days. 
Sometimes it is necessary for a man to get away 
from every work that he may recuperate himself. 

About this time I attended the funeral of my 
cousin. John Harris, living on Lombard street, 
Philadelphia. While here I met Bishops Way- 
man- and Brown ; Financial Secretary, B. W. 
Arnctt, (since made Bishop, l)ut now deceased), 
and Judge Allen (colored), of South Carolina. 
I visited the Philadelphia Conference which met 
at West Chester, Pa. This was a very delightful 
meeting of Conference. 

I soon returned to my field of labor, at ]\Iorris- 
town, very much refreshed and entered upon my 
labors with new zeal and, I trust, more wisdom. 
All through my ministry I have been deeply im- 
pressed with the fact that we must do all that we 
can for our young people. They are, in their own 
time and generation, to do all in their power to 
work out the salvation of their people. They 
must be trained to take up the labors of their 
fathers and mothers with more zeal and wisdom 
than their parents, so that the cause of the race 
may lie greatly advanced by them in their day. 
When T think of the ten millions or more of my 
people in this country, and their destiny will be 
largely fixed by the coming generation of Afro- 
Americans ; 1 almost tremble for the outcome, be- 




MACEDONIA A- M. E. CHURCH 

Camden, N. J. 

Built by Rev. W. H. Yeocum, D.D., and 

Rv A. H. Newton. D.D. 



MY MINISTKHIAI. LIFK 1 U< 

cause I fear that the fathers and mothers of this 
day and generation have not done their work as 
well as they could have done it. There are great 
odds against us in this country, and it will require 
strong- lx)dies, characters and minds, together 
with the power and wisdom of God, to bring my 
people to the place where they can become potent 
factors in this mighty civilization. At Morris- 
town I furnished the parsonage, paid oE all debts 
and added 40 members to the Church. I also or- 
ganized the Church at Madison, N. J. 

On April 18, 1883, the New Jersey Conference 
met at Bridgeton, N. J., in the Mt. Zion A. M. E. 
Church. My report was as follows : Contingent, 
$1 ; salary. $580; traveling expenses, $12; P. E. 
support, $49; Dollar ^Sloney, ^2'/; ^Missionary 
Fund. $12; Svinday School. $22; number of mem- 
bers. 61 ; probationers, 4: Sunday School scholars,. 
120. I was sent from this Conference to Trenton,. 
N. J., where I spent two years in the pastoral 
work. I increased the membership of this 
Church from 62 to 180 during this time and paid' 
off a great many debts and advanced the cause of 
Christ in many ways. After this pastorate, I 
served the Macedonia A. AT. ]'\. Church, Cam- 
den, N. J. 

I attended the General Conference in Balti- 
more, which was a wideawake meeting. While 
living and working in Camden, I bought my first 



1-20 OFT op THE BKIAKS 

house and l)ecauie a propert}- owner. I did this 
l">ecanse the parsonage could not be vacated at the 
time I needed the house. 1 have never regretted 
this step. And 1 hope that many who read this 
volume will take a similar step. There is no com- 
fort like living- under your own ''vine and fig 
tree." iNIy work in the Camden Church was very 
successful. 1 had associated with me Mr. C. W. 
Robinson, l^aswell Green, W. Starr, James Hunt, 
James Martin, George Rice. Mary White, Lizzie 
Green, Mary Merril. Emma Pitts, Mary Steven- 
son and other helpers, whose loyalty and faith- 
fulness were most praiseworthy. 

We had the great pleasure of entertainiiig the 
Conference, which was a most profitable meet- 
ing. The Conference was opened by a sermon 
from IJishop Campbell and presided over by 
Bishop Wayman. I was complimented at this 
meeting bv the brethren along the strain that (tocI 
had ~~])ecial l)lessings ])rei)ared for me and that 
in a i)cculiar sense He had cared for me. I told 
them that I praised Him for all that I was, and 
had l)cen able to do ior Him : that thev all knew 
that 1 had started witlmut any education in the 
schools. 1 had been blessed with good health 
and ordinariK- '.mod sense; that mv school was 
the school in wliicli Jesus Christ is tlu' Principal 
and the Holy Spirit the Teacher; that I had asso- 
ciated every day with my schoolmates, the sun, 



MY MINISTKHIAL MFK l-'l 

moon, stars, rivers, trees, i>rass, flowers and 
birds; that the world was my blackboard, and the 
mountains my coUes^e walls. Here is where I 
got my start. As I now look out on the young" 
men who are entering the ministry and see the 
sjilendid opportunities they have of ac(|uiring an 
education, I am really appalled that they do not 
improve these opportunities. It is a mystery to 
me. I hope that the Holy Spirit will awaken in the 
minds and hearts of the young men of my race 
who expect to ])reach the (jospel. the determina- 
tion and etlort to thoroughly prepare themselves 
to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I was left at the Mace(U)nia Church for anotlier 
vear. W'e were able tt) complete the Church dur- 
ing this vear, and it was dedicated on the 24th of 
October. 1886, by lUslio]) W'ayman. The collec- 
tion wliich we were able to raise at this dedica- 
tory service was $900. 'ilie church building is a 
tine edifice, with stained glass windows and a fine 
pipe organ. We were very proud (^f our work. 
At this service I performed two marriages ]yc- 
tween Mr. Frank ^^liller and Miss Georgia Strat- 
ton, and .Mr. Charles J. Cloud and Miss Sarah J. 
r>eatty. I finished my work in Camden. ])aid 
$u,ooo on indebtedness, was blessed with 200 
conversions, of whom i<^>o united with the church 
and paid for my house at Xo. t,^2 Washington 



]2-I OIT OF TITK BHtAHS 

Street, Camden, X. J. I left an indebtedness of 
$5000 in the church. 

The Conference of 1886 met at Trenton, N. ].. 
and was presided over by Bishop Wayman. It 
was a very profitable meeting. The Conference 
appointed a committee to call on the Governor 
of the State. They arranged a time and had a 
most pleasant meeting' with this official. Rev. 
W. A. S. Rice, D.D., ^yas the spokesman of the 
committee, which consisted of Rev. J. P. Samp- 
son, D.D., W. A S Rice, D.D., and Rev. A. H. 
Newton, D.D. The Governor afterwards sent 
for Dr. Rice and asked him what the Conference 
wanted in making a call upon him. Dr. Rice 
v/as not able to say anything definitely. Then he 
told Dr. Rice of a provision which the legisla- 
ture had made for the founding and maintaining 
of a Colored Industrial School. The outcome 
of this conference of Dr. Rice with the Gover- 
nor was that the Industrial School at Borden- 
town was established and that Dr. l-vice became 
its honored founder. 

I would like to say in this connection that the 
chairman of this committee, Rev. J. P. Sampson. 
D.D., my life long friend, has ever been promi- 
nent in the work of the church. lie is a man 
of fine ability, of sound judgment, and of noble 
Christian character. He has been tested by me 
during a lone life and I have ever found him 



MY MLNISTKKCAL LJFK 



to he tried aiul true. I always know where to 
hm\ Dr. Sampson on any great and important 
(juestion, he is on the iiglit side. 

1 was sent to llridgeton, X. [., and served this 
charge with cheerf uhiess and success. At the 
next Conference I was appointed by Bishop 
Campbell, pastor over the Millville Circuit. I 
made my home at Vineland, N. J. I looked after 
the church in Vineland. This l>eing- a very poor 
ciiarge, my wife raised chickens and the children 
gardened, and we were able to live. I went back 
to m\' old trade at odd times, that of bricklayer. 
I did not fear to take off my coat, roll up ni)' 
sleeves and go to work. I made $3.75 a day, 
l^aid off the debt on the church, preached to them 
on Sundays and added quite a numl)er to the 
church. I went from here to New Brunswick, 
N. [., and was quite successful. I found the peo- 
])le thoroughly alive to the interests of the King- 
dom of Heaven. This church had the honor of 
entertaining the Eighteenth Annual Conference 
of the A. M. E. connection at the end of my first 
the A. M. E. connection at the end of my first 
year. This Conference showed a deeper in- 
terest in* the cause of education than any other. 
The speech that stirred the Conference was made 
l>y editor L. J. Coppin. The reports at this 
Conference showed a total membership of 4352 ; 
Probationers, 1200; Accessions, 1036: Preachers, 



124 OUT OF THE BKIAKS 

71; Sunday School Scholars, 3694; Dollar 
Money, $1538.52; Pastors' Support, $18,000. 1 
remained at this charge for another year. I 
determined that I would do the best work of my 
life this year. In examining myself I found that 
I was as full of zeal as when I first entered the 
ministry and that the secret motive was to please 
the Lord by serving Him to the best of my 
abilit\ . T was greatly aided in my work by the 
Rev. j. 11. Morgan, the jjresiding elder. He had 
the tact and good sense to bring about a most 
l^leasant relationship between pastor and people 
The Rev. Air. Pockman, of the Reformed 
Church, aided me very much in my work. 1 al- 
ways sought the advice and lielp of my Meth- 
odist brethren, as well as the l)rethren of other 
denominations. William Stiles, Dorie Davis, Jo- 
siah Henson, Thomas March, Alice Thompson, 
Mrs .March, Samuel Dowdie, Harriet Henson. 
son and others were my valuable co-workers dur- 
ing this year. We paid off the debt, furnished the 
parsonage, repaired and carpeted the cliurcli 
Imilding, paid the mortgage of 15 years' standing 
and were blessed with an addition to the member- 
ship of forty-two souls. 1 was therefore able to 
take a good report to the next meeting" of the 
Conference. The reports at this Conference 
showed splendid progress being made by this 
l)ranch of the Methodist Church. And it re- 



MY MIMSTKKIAL 1,1KK 



fjuires but a brief examination to prove that this 
is also true of every denomination represented 
among my i)eople. I sul)mit a few facts and 
figiu'es that may be of ^reat encouragement to 
my friends who have the patience to read this 
vohmie. There are 55,784 church organizations; 
56,228 church buildings; 2,672,977 members of 
all denominations ; church ])roperty is vakied at 
$32,510,448; when 1 enlisted in the Civil War 
we had practically no schools, because before the 
war it was a misdemeanor to teach Colored chil- 
<lren in school, now there are upwards of 2,000.- 
000 Colored children attending well taught 
schools. This is a record of which we are very 
])roud. but by no means satisfied with the achieve- 
ment. We mu.st press forward along all lines of 
work and enterprise. There is no time for 
idling", there is no place for drones, there is no 
reward for ignorance. 

My next assignment was Cape May, X. J. 
During the pastorate of Rev. [. Height l'>ean. 
1>.1).. this church had l^ought a lot on which 
was a house used as a parsonage. We were 
greatly favored here by a 'Sir. Ogden. wh(j aided 
us in procuring- lumber. ITe was a most kind 
man to the poor and needy and in his kindness 
he knew no color line. rhe church building 
was not plastered or seated, so we decided to 
borrow money for this purpose. We needed $500 



V2f> OIT OF THK liKIAlJS 

and owed a mortgage of $1200. We had not a 
cent. Therefore the Board decided on a rally. 
At this rally we had with us the Rev. Israel 
Derricks, of the Conference of New York. 
On that day we raised $168 in cash and $50 in 
subscriptions. On another Sabbath later we 
raised $250. Rev. Levi Coppin aided us very 
materially that day. So that at last we were 
.able to pay in cash $468 of the $500 which we 
had expected to borrow. The School Board at 
Cape May applied to me for two teachers to fill 
vacancies in public school. I recommended Miss 
'Gertie Pierce, of Trenton, N. J-, ^"d Miss Fannie 
\Vorthington, of Washington, D. C. They were 
accepted and given positions. (3ur church at this 
place supplied two of the school teachers, this 
year, for the teaching of the Colored children. 
The Alisses Gertie Pierce and Fannie ^Vorth- 
ington were the young ladies. Through the 
spiritual activity of the members we had a splen- 
did revival during the year wluch resulted in 
iortv members being added to the church, and in 
.all 62 members. We installed a pipe organ also. 
1 am glad to say that the members of this churcii 
were in dead earnest. So I had no trouble 
with mud-slingers and evil doers. How much 
time of a ])astor is frequently taken up in fight- 
ing against the Devil who is incarnated in some 
• if the members of the church! 




BISHOP HENRY M- TURNER 

Who appointed me Presiding Elder 



MY MINISTEKI Al. J.IPE 



The next Conference met at Morristown, N. I. 
It was a great delight to return and meet my 
old friends and co-laborers. The reports of thi^ 
Conference showed a steady growth and ad- 
vancement along all lines. 

I am often reminded of the courage of Bishop 
Allen, wh<j, when he and his friends were de- 
clared a nuisance in the White church and wliilc 
on their knee§ in prayers were taken hold of. 
and ordered to the back part of the church, went 
out and organized the A. M. E. Denomination. 
God went out wdth him as results have shown. 
And on account of this most un-Christian treat- 
ment which the founder of our church received, 
I have given mv life with redoubled zeal to its 
establishment in this land. Our church has stood 
for an indeix'ndence which has been an ui:)lifting 
power in the Race. While in some cases this 
may have been carried too far by unwise per- 
.sons, yet on the wdiole no one can gainsay that 
the A. M. E. Church has been a Divinely ap- 
pointed agency in the life and labors of the 
Negro Race of the United States of America. 

At this Conference I was made a 1 'residing 
Elder of the Trenton District Iw Bishop H. M. 
Turner, D.D. 1 moved my family to I'hiladel- 
phia, Pa. With the aid of my friends, my family 
was pleasantly domiciled in Philadelphia and I 
started on mv first rounds as a 1*. E. This was 



aVT OF THK BKlAH^ 



the most difficult part of uiy ministerial life. I 
found that there was no church in the N. J. 
Conference that wanted to see the presidinj^ 
elder. They looked upon him as an unneees- 
sar\ part of church machinery. They consider- 
ed him as a dependent on their gifts and that 
everv time that he came it meant ''more money, 
more money." My first quarterly meeting was 
to liave l)een held at the church at Mt. Holly 
l)ut I found that the pastor was not ready 
to hold the meeting, so it was ]iostponed. I- 
weiit to another place and the ])astor told me 
that "'things w^ere very unfavorahle there." The 
result of my first round was that when I came 
hack to Camden, I had to horrow ten dollars.. ' I. 
attended during this year the General Conference 
which met in the Mother Jiethel Church. Phila- 
delphia. I witnessed the ordination of Revs. 
i;. v. Lee, M. B. Salter and James A. Handy 
to the Bishopric. The Conference created a great 
deal of enthusiasm for the connection. I re- 
turned to my work with the determination that 
I w^ould do more for the Lord than I had ever 
done before. I closed my Conference year with 
reasonable success. I received as a salary $680 
and $57 for for traveling expenses. But I be- 
lieve that I succeeded in convincing the people 
that the ])residing elder may be of great assist- 
ance to the local church in doing its work in 



MY MINISTKHIAL LIFE 1 2M 

that tlie minister is often not al)le to cope \\ith 
things as they exist. 

My report at the Conference \vhich met at 
Princeton, X. J., was about as follows: Trenton 
pastorate, new church built and 59 converts; 
new church huilt at Trenton Mission; new 
church at Jordantown : mortgage burned at IJor- 
dentown ; church tinished at jamesburgh; the 
other work was the routine work of the pre- 
siding" elder. I was again api)ointe(l presiding 
elder of the same district. During this year I 
had my daughter, Ada, witli me, having come 
North and l)rought her husl)and, Albert A. B. 
Cooper. Bishop Turner gave my son-in-law an 
apjx)intment at Bethel, South Camden, which 
pleased us all very much. ■My wife and chil- 
dren not being well i)leased with their residence 
in Philadelphia, T moved them to our own house 
in Camden. During this year as presiding elder 
I took up a campaign against worldliness in the 
church. 1 found that our young people were 
drifting off to ]ilaces of amusement, such as the- 
atres. ]:)arks, etc. This work was carried on by 
the pastors in my district and I am glad to say 
that there was a great change for the better. I 
do not think that oiu' young people are malicious 
or wilful in such matters, but that it is largely 
on account of the indifference on the part of 
their pastors. It is not enough to go into the 



ISO OUT OF THK UKfARS 

pulpit and enter into a tirade of denunciation and 
scolding- ; this will do more harm than gfKxl ; but 
reason must be employed. The world and the 
church are at enmity, they never have been and 
never can be friends until the world, as an in- 
dividual, has been saved by the blood of Jesus 
Christ. As long- as this relation of hostility 
exists between the world and the church.' mem- 
bers of the church cannot be friendly to Ixith. 
They cannot be followers of the -world and its 
ways and at the same time consistent members 
of the church. 

At the Xewark Conference, I was quite sick, 
but able to get through the work. My reports 
as presiding elder during this year were very 
satisfactory. I was given an appointment as a 
pastor at this Conference l)y Bishoj) W. T. Tan- 
ner, my. station was South \\'oodbur}'. 

Sick as I was, I was determined to attend the 
(General Conference which met at Wilmington, 
X. C. The trip was not a very pleasant one 
for me although everything had been done to 
make it pleasant. We arrived at Richmond, 
A"a., and sto])]K'd twenty minutes for a meal. I 
was carried into the dining room and seated with 
the l)rclbren. I was im])resse(l there with the 
fact diat tlie White peojjle are not going to al- 
low anvthhig that has the semblance of social 
eijuality. As soon as we were seate<l a folding 



MV NJIMSTKKIAI, 1,1 Fi; 1:^1 

screen was placed about our little company so 
as to cut us oft' from the White people in the 
dininLi" room. This was segregation in earnest. 

I enj(\ve(l the meeting of the (leneral Con- 
ference very much. 1 was under the care of a 
physician and able to attend each day's session 
of the long" meeting. 1 was delighted to be witli 
Mr. Jose])]! Sampson, mv boyhood friend and as- 
sociate. He was Registrar of Deeds. I was 
rejoiced when 1 learned from him of the mental 
improvement he had made. There were over 
six hundred ministers and lay-delegates in at- 
tendance. Thev represented the strong element 
of tile cluu'cli. There w'ere theologians and 
scholars, men skilled in the tactics of Christian 
warfare. I rejoiced that ( iod has such gather- 
ings as this to work and plan for the general 
uplifting of my people. .Vs long as there are 
men w lio have determined that right shall pre- 
vail and that the Gospel shall leaven the entire 
human race, there is no doubt of the final issue. 
1m >r we know what God's will is and that this 
will must be carried out bv His loyal children. 

After m\- return home I was sick for about two 
weeks but was able to take uj) the work at South. 
\\'oodbur\-. The lirst thing we did as pastor 
and ])eople was to plan for a new church build- 
ing, the old one being in a dilapidated condition. 



132 olT OF Tl[K HUIAttS 

It took quite a while to get the people in the 
notion of building, but we adopted our plans and 
began to work. 1 found a great many splendid 
workers in this church, without \vhoni I would 
have labored in vain. 1 was at this place for 
three years and when I left, the members were 
worshij)ping in a hue l>rick chiu'ch. I had suc- 
ceeded in paying off a part of the debt, and had 
received into the membership of the cliurch about 
thirty-five members. 

At the next meeting of the Conference I was 
sent to the station of Burlington, N. J. I spent 
a most pleasant and profitable year with these 
dear people. They did all in their power to 
make my life a pleasure to myself and family. 
I left this work with the best wishes of the 
members of the church. I left with the con- 
viction too that they were a noble band of the 
Lord's workers and that the work would be in 
the hands of men and women ^^ h(,i would not let 
it lag for the want of untiring, energetic workers. 

In 1899 I was assigned by Bishop A. Grant 
to Hossanah A. M. E. Church, East Camden, 
N. j. I labored here until 190T, having re- 
organized the Sunday Schoi^l and ])aid something 
on the church debt and added many members to 
the membership of the church. 

Beverl\- was my next charge. Here I built a 
new churcli. 1 found that many of the AMiite 



MY MIXISTKIUAl. LIFE 138 

people of this community were in sympathy with 
our work. They contributed of their money and 
did what they could spiritually for the upbuilding 
of our work. A lady from Edgewater Park gave 
me six hundred dollars for tlie building of the 
church and a nice little sum for the pastor. She 
w-as j\Irs. Taylor. The Presbyterian minister 
at this place helped me a great deal in my work. 
I can surely say that the presence of the Lord 
was with us and like David, exclaim. ''\Miom 
have I in Pleaven but Thee and there is none in 
all the earth, my soul would desire, beside Thee." 

Sad, sad. are the recollections of the years 
from 1899 to 1904. I was. taxed to my utmost 
for the enlargement of the Kingdom of Grace in 
my attempts to keep the young men and women 
from the sharks or pirates, who would have drag- 
ged them down to hell. Their great sin was 
that of Sabbath breaking. This led them to 
licentious living and almost every other crime of 
immorality. At the same time the hand of 
affliction was laid heavily upon me. And had 
it not been for the grace of God I should have. 
xunlcen l)encath the waves of affliction. 

.M\ daughter, Ada Augusta Xewton Cooper, 
the wife of Rev. A. B. Cooper, died September 
i8th, 1899. She was thirty-eight years old. She 
was a devoted, loving daughter and faithful 
wife. She passed away at Orange, X. J., where 



l.U OUT OP THE BRIARS 

she was engaged in her Christian activities. She 
was a consecrated worker, a proficient teacher, 
authoress, and a most valuable assistant to me 
for many years. wShe knew as well as I that my 
education was sadly deficient, that I had come 
out of the briars of slavery and all its curses, 
and in a very practical manner, she was my 
education. For I had spared no means to have 
her thoroughly educated. And always after- 
ward she was conscious of the advantages that 
I had given her and was constantly trying to 
pay ofif this great debt of gratitude. lUit the 
time came when the Lord called her to a higher 
service. He had need of her in another part of 
His Kingdom and called her away. It is indeed 
one of the heavy crosses that we are called upon 
to bear, when the Lord calls away from us the 
children whom He has given us. Only those 
parents who have passed through these said af- 
flictions know anything of the pains and suffer- 
ing. I cried out, "Oh, Lord, I sink into the deep 
mire w'here no solid foundation is found. I have 
come into the deep waters where the floods over- 
flow me. Save me, O, God, for the waters are 
overflowing my soul." 

On December 3. 1902, my devoted and loving 
son passed away. He had lived a consecrated 
Christian life. He died at the age of twenty- 
one vears. He had taken a thorough course of 



MV MINISTERIAL LIFK IH.J 

training at Lincoln L'niversity. Pa., and had en- 
tered the ministry of tlie A. M. E. Denomina- 
tion. He united with the Conference at Atlantic 
City and had heen assigned to the charge at 
Sea Bright. X. J-. by Bishop A. Grant. He was 
a loving son, fine scholar, strong preacher, and 
was begining life with all the prospects of a 
great usefulness. But the frost of death rested 
on him and he went to slee]) from the labors of 
the earth. But we are sure that he awakened 
in that l)right and happy land where there is 
no death and that now he is engaged in a nmcli 
larger and better service than any that he could 
have rendered here below. I shall see him again. 
We will soon meet to part no more. We will 
soon talk together again and thank God, with the 
assurance, that father and son will never be 
parted. 

On February 8. 1904, my dear mother was 
called to the other home. This was the woman 
who had done more for me than all on the 
earth besides. She died at the age of ninety-two 
years. This, added to my other afflictions and 
to the weight of my labors, seemed more than I 
could stand. I had never realized what it was 
to be wdthout a mother. Although at the age 
of sixty I was still a son. I had never for- 
gotten that the law of my life was that of obe- 
dience. That it was my dutv to honor mv father 



i:^6 <MT OF THK liKTAKS 

and my mother. So that my years had nothing 
to do with the intensity of my filial love and de- 
votion. I shall never forget her looks when 
dying", with her eyes fixed on me, she said, "Do 
the work of the ministry as hecomes a minister 
of the Lord Jesns. See to it. that no disgrace 
is brought on the cause which you represent by 
your unworthiness." To my brother Henry she 
said, "My work is done. Xeither of you can 
do me any good. Be earnest and true to your 
trust, and meet me in the morning where parting" 
is no niore." Then she sang with us : 

''Guide me, O Thou Grerit Jehovah, 
Pilgrim through this barren land ; 

I am weak but Thou art mighty, 
Hold me with Thy powerful hand. 

Bread of Heaven ! 

Feed me till I want no more." 

"When I tread the verge of Jordan, 

Bid my anxious fears subside. 
Death of death and Hell's destruction,— 

Land me safe on Canaan's side. 
Songs of Praises, 

I will give Thee evermore." 

Then she left us. And from that day until 
the day when I promised to meet her. I will be 
lonely without her. 

On September 29, 1905, my youngest and 
last daughter fell asleep in the arms of Jesus. On 
the morning she left us I caiue to her bedside. 



>!Y MINISTERIAL LIFE l".l 



Mrs. Jennie Wise Johnston, wife of the edi- 
tor, Dr. II. T. Johnson, was sitting;- hy her 
bedside holding her hand. She was rubbing her 
hands as if she could rub the warmth of life into 
them. The poor child cried out. "Papa, Oh. 
papa!" These were her last words, she could 
sav no more. Oh those words, how they have 
rung in my ears and how the echoes have come to 
me out of eternity, "Papa, Oh, papa !" Her mother 
had stepped into another room to weep. I could 
not stand to see her die. The cares and toils 
and sacrifices which I had made for her, the 
love that had bound her to me. the joys which 
she had brought into my life. — and now that 
Grim Death should be choking her — was more 
than I could bear. I bowed my head and prayed 
and took the train for my appointment in Jersey 
City. When I arrived I was handed a telegram 
announcing that she had left us. I took the 
next train and came home. This daughter at 
the early age of twelve years, like my other 
children, had become a devoted Christian. Her 
earlv piety was marked and deep. She lived 
until she was twenty-seven years of age. She 
had been a teacher in the public school, Mt. 
\'ernon, St., Camden, for seven years, a skilled 
musician and a competent Sunday School worker. 
In passing through all these afflictions. I 
learned that it was a great deal easier for one 



18S OUT OF THE BRIARS 

to say what he would do under such circum- 
stances than it was to do what one ought to do. 
I had often said to many under the hand of 
affliction : 

"Cast thy burden on the Lord, for He careth 
for you." 

I had never learned what that little word, 
"cast" meant. I found that it was no easy thing 
to cast my burden on the Lord. It was no 
easy thing to really say, "Thy will be done, not 
mine." I would take these burdens to the Lord, 
but when I came away I would bring them with 
me. Ah ! There is the point. I would bring them 
away wnth me ! This I should not have done, 
but thank God, I am becoming able to leave my 
burdens with Him. I am too old to carry them 
now. And my dear reader, if you in early life 
can learn to leave your burdens with the Lord, 
you will have won the victory of victories. I 
know that these dear ones cannot come to me 
but I can go to them and it will not be li3ng 
until I go. 

At Jersey City I entered upon my work with 
a fine body of workers associated with me. Bros. 
A. S. Taper, W. H. Dougherty, J. Stokes, Ed- 
ward Llolmes ; sisters, Hannah Stokes, Mamie 
Taper, Hattie Dougherty, Louisa Holmes, Anna 
Burk, Annie Dowers, and a host of other work- 
ers were standing around me in this great field. 



. MY MINISTKKIAL LIFK 139 

They did all that they could to make African 
Methodism a strong fort of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and were bent on having a building that would 
be an honor to the denomination. 

A Mr. Ueach became very much interested in 
the work, he was our trusted treasurer and gave 
of his own money and influenced others to help 
us. I made my home with Mr. John Smith and 
his wife. They did a great- deal to help the 
work along". While here we paid $500 on the 
church debt, and left the lumber and brick for a 
new church on the lot which belonged to the 
church and added over one hundred members to 
the church. 

On April 12. 1905. I met the thirty-third ses- 
sion of the New Jersey Conference at the St. 
James A. M. E. Church, Atlantic City, N. J. 
Rev. B. W. Arnett, D.D., LL.D., was the pre- 
siding bishop 

The report of the presiding elders was indeed 
very encouraging, showing that great revivals 
had been in the districts of the several presiding 
elders, and that the church in all its departments 
of labor and enterprise had made encouraging ad- 
vancement. This Conference as a great spiritual 
revival. There was great rejoicing on every 
hand. The secretaries brought in fine reports of 
their departments of work. We were made to 
feel that the church was getting back on the solid 



14(1 Ol'T OF THK inn.VRS 

ground of ^Methodism, the Old Time Religion 
which our fathers enjoyed. I sometimes think 
that in our church work we have so much ma- 
chinery and so many schemes and plans, and are 
so bent on the money or material side of the 
church and its life, that we have lost our spirit- 
ual power. We need a great change in this re- 
spect. ^^'e must get back to the thought that 
God is our all in all and that they labor in vain 
mIk) would l)uild the house unless the Lord Him- 
self build it. 

During this meeting of the Conference some 
valuable statistics were submitted on the Race 
which I submit for careful study. Of course 
these will soon be supplanted by the U. S. Census 
Report, but many will not have access to this 
report, so I give them here : The Xegro popu- 
lation of the U. S. in 1900 was 9,204,531 ; seventy 
per cent, w'ork on 746,000 farms; 21,000 car- 
penters ; 20,000 barbers, and one-fourth as many 
doctors; 10,000 ordained preachers; 15,000 ma- 
sons; 12,000 dress makers; 10,000 engineers; 
5,000 shoemakers; 1,000 lawyers; 4,000 musi- 
cians; 2,000 actors; since i8<)0 the illiteracy of 
the race has been reduced from 57 per cent, to 
44.5 ])er cent: These reports mentioned Mr. 
Roosevelt as standing shoulder to shoulder with 
the immortal Lincoln as the friend of the Race. 

'Jdiese facts and figures are a great inspiration 



MV MINISTKHIAL \AFK 



to my people and I hope that they will he in- 
spired to take fresh courai^e and g'o ahead in 
the great work and battle of life. ^ly only jnn"- 
pose in pntting into print the record of m}- own 
life is to encourage the }-oung men and women 
to do something" more to help themselves. 

The doors of great schools are now open to 
.the young men of the Race and if they do not 
improve their opportunities, it is their own fault 
and their own loss. The time has C()me when 
the people should not tolerate ignorance and 
its shames in any of the professions. From a 
])ersi:)nal acquaintance. I can most heartilv recom- 
mend three great men who will do all in their 
power for the young Colored men of this coun- 
try — Rev. Isaac X. Rendall, D.D., of Lincoln 
University, Rev. Dr. Scarbourough. of \\'ilber- 
force L'niversity. ( )hio, and Rev. Samuel G. 
.Miller. D.D.. of the Bible College, of Philadel-' 
phia. Pa. Hiese men have made their reputa- 
tiiin and are among the great instructors of the 
Race and they stand in readiness to do what 
they can for the young people of my Race. The 
three men mentioned stand for the higher edu- 
cation of the i)eople. Idiey believe that what is 
gi-.od for tile Wdute man is equally good for the 
lUack man. ( )n the other hand, if voung men 
and women are seeking to Ije educated along 
l)ractical lines. I recommend them to the great 



142 (•! T OF THE BRIARS 

institution at Tiiskegee, Ala., Dr. Booker T. 
Washington's school. With these great men and 
the advantages which have been supplied by 
them, no young person can have an excuse for 
not rising to a high degree of scholarship and 
efficiency in any line of work. 

At the Conference at Long Branch I was ap- 
pointed at Bordentown, N. J. I had a pleasant 
reception here. Rev. J. H. Morgan was the re- 
tiring pastor. He called on me and gave me 
some valuable advice as to the work. I found 
that the church was divided by factions, but 
under God's blessing these were united and all 
worked together in perfect harmony. We paint- 
ed and paid for the parsonage and considerable 
was paid on the church debt. Dr. Roundtree, 
the Presiding Elder of this district, was of great 
assistance to me in my work. 

Prof. James Gregory, principal of the Indus- 
trial School at this place, an institution supported 
by the State of New Jersey, was also a very 
valuable aid in the work ot the church. He 
and his students were always present at the 
Sunday services and helped very materially in 
all the work of the church. 

When I went from Jersey City to this place. 
I was in poor health and this made the work 
much more difficult. At last I was taken to the 
hospital and was there three months. It was a 




REV. J. H. MORGAN 

Former Secretary 

of the 

Ne-w Jersey Annual Conference 



MV ^riNISTKRIAL LIFE 



fight between the forces of hfe and the forces 
of death, but it was God's will that I should stay 
a while longer on the earth to do His work, so I 
won out in the fight with death. But I am glad 
to recou.nt this experience; after a close examina- 
tion of myself, I found that I was ready to die, 
that 1 was reallv relying on the Lord Jesus 
Christ for my salvation and that His will was 
indeed my will. This was a great consolation. 
In health we are sometimes not able to diagnose 
our spiritual condition, but in extreme sickness, 
Avhen we are brought near to the valley of the 
shadow of death, we are able to make note of 
our real spiritual state or condition and we are ■ 
able to do so, with the knowledge that we may 
soon feel the pangs of death. 

During my stay in the hospital my friends 
were exceedingly good to me and my church at 
Bordentown continued my salary. Surely God 
has blessed mc with tried and true friends. 

The best friend I had in all this affliction was 
my dear wife. Lulu. She was with me con- 
stantly. She seemed to suffer with me all my 
sufifering. How often I have seen in her face 
the sympathy and love that would have robbed 
me of every pain, but she could not. I cried out 
within myself, "Glor}- and honor to such a wife !" 
The operation was a successful one in the sense 
that in this case the Datient did not die. In three 



144 orx OP TIIK ]}RIAKS 

months to the day from the time that I left my 
pulpit I was again in the pulpit ready to do 
valiant service for God and my people. 

The next Conference met at (Jrange, N. J., 
April 25th, 1907. Bishop Wesley J. Gaines, pre- 
sided. I was sent to the charge at Haddonfield, 
N. J. I was at this church two years. A good 
work was done. From this church I was sta- 
tioned at the church at IMt. Holly. N. J. (The 
Mt. Moriah A. M. E. Church). We met a most 
pleasant and active band of workers at this place 
and did a good work for the T.ord. 

At the Conference which met at Orange I had 
the pleasure of hearing the Rev. Samuel G. Mil- 
ler, D.D.. President of the Bible Educational As- 
sociation, speak on the necessity of an educated 
ministry. I was deeply impressed with his re- 
marks and when he made it known that he was 
at the head of an institution in Philadelphia 
where ministers regardless of their intellectual 
condition would be received and aided along edu- 
cational lines, I determined that I would visit the 
school and see what they were doing. 

Xot long afterward I went to the school and 
found Dr. Miller at his post. I told him that 
I was about seventy years old, that I did not 
feel that it was worth while for me to under- 
take any course of study and that if I did I feared 
that I could not kee]) pace with the class. He 



MY .\riNrSTKUIAL LIFE 145 

replied to me that age had nothing" to tlo with a 
man's ahihty to study if he would apply himself 
— that the mind never grew old, that it was im- 
mortal, and that the only thing for me to do 
was to enter the school and get down to hard 
work. I was both amused and astonished at his 
advice. But I entered the school and took up 
those difficult studies. Xew Testament Greek, 
Hebrew, Psychology, and put in several hours 
a day on them. I was astonished at my suc- 
cess. I found that my memory came back to 
me and that I was really able to perform feats 
of memory. I found that it became easier for 
me to acquire knowledge as I went along. I 
remained in the college three years, and am now 
able to read the Bible in its original tongues and 
have taken the Theological course. And now^ in 
my seventy-third year, I have done wdiat I 
would loved to have done fifty years ago. I have 
educated myself. How strange the Providence 
of God ! The Southern people enslaved my peo- 
ple and caused me a great deal of my suft'ering, 
but at the end or almost at the end of my earthly 
journey, I met this godly Southern man, Dr. Mil- 
ler, who has made a new man out of me along 
educational lines. Thank God, Pie has His own 
children among the Southern people as well as 
in the Xorth. And I believe that when the 
Southern people realize what the Xegro is to 



14(i OUT OF TIIK Bin A US 

tlieni as well as what he has been, that they will 
do wonders for the Race. At this very writing, 
the white people of the State of South Carolina 
are vying Avith the ^^'hite people of North Caro- 
lina, as to w^hich state has the best and most 
progressive class of Colored people. I thank- 
God that I have gotten out of the briars. 

I am greatly surprised that I have been able to 
lill the posts of duty and honor which have been 
assigned me in my life. I have done what I 
could and tlie best -I could. On the battle field, 
as chaplain in the state legislature, as pastor, as 
presiding elder, as a high official in Fraternal 
Orders, as an officer in the Civil W ar, as son. 
husband, father and friend. I have tried to be 
faithful, and I can truly repeat the words of d}- 
ing King Edward. "I tried to do my duty." 



S' 




SAMUEL G. MILLER, D.D. 

My Instructor in Hebrew, New Testament Greek, Theology, etc. 
Bible College, Philadelphia, Pa. 



®Ijf (Elturrli; 
Itat 3t 3s mh Uliat 
Jt ^hnulft 1p 



3t ^Imitlii If. 



I am aware of the tact that in writing my 
views of the Church as it is and as it should be, 
that I ma}' and doubtlessly will, run counter to 
the views of some of my brethren, but I do not 
find that this is a valid reason for my not ex- 
pressing m}- view-s on such an important subject. 
I have served the Church quite a number of years, 
over forty years, having given her the best part of 
my life, and now that I am about to conclude my 
labors for her, I feel that it is my duty to say 
those things which in my judgment will be for 
her highest welfare and the glory of her Head, 
Jesus Christ. 

I. The Church as it is. The study of present 
church life is a most intricate one. We find that 
the Church is hopelessly divided, that is, it seems 
hopelessly divided. "A house divided against 
itself cannot stand." Let it be understood that 
I am not talking or writing about any of these 
divisions, or denominations, I am speaking of 
that body of believers of every denomination 
or sect, who belong to our Christ. They may be 

149 



160 OUT OP^ THE BRIARS 

Protestants or Roman Catholics; they may be 
Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopal- 
ians or Quakers. No one denomination can lay 
any claim to a monopoly of religion or of Christ- 
ianity, and therefore cannot be considered alone. 

I. The Church today is shorn of much of its 
power by so many divisions. There would be 
no objection to these myriad divisions if it were 
not for the fact that these divisions are more or 
less arrayed against one another. If these divi- 
sions were articulated and harmonious like the 
divisions of a great army, it would be a good 
thing, but this is not so; we are the Church Mili- 
tant in a bad sense as well as in a good sense, 
and alas the bad too often predominates. 

We have frequently found one denomination 
fighting another denomination on doctrinal 
grounds ; we have found them proselyting ; we 
have found them trying to occupy the same terri- 
tory, and thereby wasting their strength ; we have 
seen them grow into bigotry and sectarianism 
and live the life of strife. The evils which have 
followed such a condition have been an impov- 
erished and struggling, yes, dying church ; a 
poorly paid and inefficient ministry; a life largely 
robbed of its spirituality ; an organization which 
has become the laughing stock of the world. 

We have found individual congregations fol- 
lowing the example of their denominations. All 



THE CHURCH ui 



this is to be greatly deplored, for it is contrary 
to the teachings and spirit of Jesus Christ. 

2. The Church today has become poisoned with 
politics. Political tricks and schemes, political 
life and its power, have gotten into the church 
and- have wrought havoc. We cannot reconcile 
this manner of directing the life and work of the 
Church with the over ruling of the Ploly Spirit. 
Some of the great meetings of our churches, in 
their annual business sessions, have become real 
Avorldly political gatherings having met in the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thev have turn- 
ed the House of God into a den of politicians. 
Men high up in the authority and influence of the 
Church, have subverted this rank and power to 
their own selfish purposes. They have sought 
to make the Church a stepping stone to something 
better for themselves instead of making them" 
selves a stepping stone for the betterment of the 
Zion of God. They have forgotten that the}- 
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister ; 
not to be served with easy and lucrative positions. 
but to serve in any sphere however humble. 
Money has been spent in vast sums for the pro- 
curing of high positions; life has been wasted 
in a selfish attempt to save it; the Church has be- 
come corrupted and made sinful, thereby driving 
the Holy Spirit away from its work and pres^ 
ence. The Church today is more or less dis- 



152 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

graced by such political methods. It stands de- 
pleted of much of its power. It is ' following 
men instead of (iod. instead of the Holy Spirit. 
The Church cannot serve two masters. 

3. The Church today is largely under the pow- 
er of the god of Alammon. It has forgotten the 
poor which it always has with it. It has gone off 
after the well-to-do and rich classes. It has 
greater respect for the man that comes into its 
doors dressed in goodly apparel than for the poor 
man in his rags. 

In our cities the Church is following the rich 
uptown. Great and grand buildings are standing- 
idle, and posted on their front is the sign. "For 
Sale." \\diereas the multitudes are living and 
surging all aljout these emptv houses of God. 

The great burden of the Church today is not 
getting in souls, but getting in dollars. .Magnifi- 
cent buildings are erected costing hundreds, yes 
millions of dollars. The members are compelled 
to pay for the costly structures. We forget that 
the groves were God's first temples. We forget 
that He was pleased to live in a tent with His 
people. The Church has gone money-mad. The 
struggle of the ])astor is to get his salary after 
the great and increasing expenses of the Church 
have been met. If he fails to accomplish this 
herculean task, he must go. \)y this course the 
masses of the i)eople are driven away from the 



Till'; ciiritcii i.vj 



Church. (July tifly per cent of the ])eople of the 
L'nited States attend the Cliurch, and onl)- thirty 
per cent are members of the Church, and one of 
the reasons, if not the greatest, is that they can- 
not afford to be members of the Church. The 
call on the Sabbath Day is money, money, money. 
I'eople sicken at the cr}-. and turn away in utter 
cHsgust. 

4. There is a growing formalit}- in the Church. 
This formahty is seen in the Hves as well as the 
worship of the members of the Church. Alas, 
too many love the form of religion, but they deny 
the power of it. Revivals are gotten up, where- 
as thev always come down. \\'e have never been 
able to get up a rain, because it is nature that 
brings it down. We can never get up a revival 
because the Holy Spirit brings it down, so that 
there has crept into the Church, times, and sea- 
sons and plans of man's making for revival pur- 
poses, simply because the time has come for a re- 
vival and for no other purpose, the revival is had. 
What good can come out of such attem])ts? Re- 
vivals come through the operation of great 
spiritual laws, and these laws must be obeyed 
bv God's people, or there can be no revival. 

The modern evangelist has done much to 
bring about a stereotyped condition of the Church- 
He has his set methods of rousing the people ; 
he arrans^es for a revival in a certain church be- 



154 nl T OF THE BRIARS 

caiise it suits his convenience, not looking to the 
special need of the church for such a service. He 
is often inclined to depreciate the work of the 
pastor by his own methods and mannerism; he 
sets in to do a certain amount of work ; so many 
souls must be converted; so much money must 
be raised, and he is on hand to have this v^ork 
done, and in this manner, the whole work of re- 
vivals has been almost entirely discounted. The 
work of the modern evangelist is unscriptural 
in that he is not doing it in the right place. The 
pastorate is not the place for the evangelist. He 
should go to those waste places where there is 
no pastor. He belongs on the frontier, and the 
pastor who is wise will not permit an evangel- 
ist to come into his church, and do the work 
which he himself ought to do, or some other pas- 
tor. 

The Church must get away from these man- 
made methods and plans ; these man-set times 
and occasions, and must look to the Holy Spirit 
for direction in all these matters. 

I wish it understood that I am pointing out 
some of the great weaknesses of the Church to- 
day. I have not forgotten that the Church in 
every age has had its struggles; I have not for- 
gotten that the Church is founded on the Rock, 
Jesus Christ, and the walls of hell cannot prevail 
against her. I have not forgotten that it is 



THE CHURCH h^5 



through the Church that this lost world will be 
redeemed. I have not forgotten that the Church 
is the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the 
bride of Christ. 

In considering what the Church should be we 
have but to go back to the Bible in order to de- 
termine this question. 

1. The Church should be a body of believers 
in Christ. I mean by believers, men and women 
who are practicing the teachings of Christ. If 
the life is not the result of the teachings of 
Christ there is no faith behind it. If a man says 
that he believes in Christ, and is not living the 
teachings of the Master, he is not a believer. 
That there are many in the Church who are not 
believers is therefore true, because there are 
many who are not practicing the teachings of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

2. The Church should return to its great mis- 
sion of preaching the Gospel. Almost every- 
thing else but the Gospel is preached. Science, 
literature, biography, philosophy, mortality, etc., 
are the burden of the pulpit today. As a conse- 
quence of this men and women are starving to 
death for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The doctrines of great fundamental principles 
of Christianity should be preached. If a man is 
not rooted and grounded in the principles of his 
faith, how can he be strong, how can he be 
useful ? 



ir,(i OUT OP THE BRIARS 

A cry has ,qone out for a new religion. We 
have too much now of the new rehgion. It is a 
faikire; we must get more of the old religion, or 
give up the Gospelship to those who will he 
faithful to their trust. God will make the change 
Himself if we do not make it. He took the light 
away from the Jews because they were not 
faithful to their charge, and He will take it 
away from us for the same reason. What the 
world today needs is the Bible, and in order that 
it may receive the Ihble it must be preached in 
the pulpit and in the pew. The pulpit is very 
weak today in this respect, and hence the pew is 
weak, ^^'e have a weak religion, and unless we 
return to God's way. it will grow weaker still. 
This recjuires a thorough Bible training on the 
part of the preacher. The minister should know 
his Biljle. and then he should preach it. It de- 
mands great faith in the \\'ord of God. and great 
courage to proclaim its saving truth. A preacher 
is sent out into the world 'to tell it of sin, Satan, 
self and hell. He is commissioned to proclaim 
salvati(Mi from these things, and to set before 
the peo])lc an upright, godly life. He is author- 
ized to command that men everywhere shall re- 
])ent of their sins and turn to God. He must 
know the trutli that he may preach it. He must 
know tlic plan of salvation. He nnist be one 
with (iod in kn(n\ ledge and work. The pulpit 



TIIK <'TrrRCH 157 



niiist control the pew, and not the pew the pulpit. 

3. The Church must look after the poor. This 
is not being done today. Tn the Church during 
the days of the Hebrew nation there were no 
poor. During- the Church in the early days of 
Christianity, the jMJor were well cared for. There 
were not any that lacked. The Church should 
be going out after the poor instead of running 
away from them. Christ was constantly serv- 
ing the poor. He was with them all the time. 
He shared their sulTerings and bore their bur- 
dens. The Church to be true to Him and true 
to itself must do the same thing. Our very 
judgment test will be found in the manner in 
which we treat the poor, which are the repre- 
sentatives of Christ on the earth. "T was hun- 
gry and ye gave me no meat." Read the twenty- 
fifth chapter of ]\Iatthew and see what this test 
is. Suppose that the Church today would be 
judged by this test, where would it stand? 

These are some of my views which I gladly 
put into this book hoping and praying that the_\' 
will become an inspiration to many to get back 
to the Eible ; back to the old time religion of our 
fathers ; back to the cross of Jesus Christ. They 
are written in the greatest kindness but with the 
greatest earnestness. They are written in no 
fault finding spirit, but with the spirit of love 
and sympathy, for I love the Church more tlian 
mv own life. 



Eht Nrgrn f rnblrm 



(51]r ^t^to Jproblrnt 



It might be profitable to my readers, after hav- 
ing sketched my hfe in the army, to give some 
of my views pertaining to my race, relative to 
the Civil War and the time since then. 

Much is being said and written on the so-called 
Negro Problem. Why it has taken this name, I 
have never been able to decide. For when we 
examine into its intricacies, we find that it is the 
White Man's problem also. And certainly it is 
true, that if this problem is ever settled in this 
country on a proper basis, it will be settled when 
the White and the Colored people come together 
on some practical basis of agreement. There 
are more than ten millions of Colored people in 
tliis country and they are here to stay. They 
have paid at least a part of the debt which 
they owe to the nation, on the battlefield. They 
have never shirked their duty in this respect and 
they never will. Soldiers during both the Civil 
and the Spanish-American wars, demonstrated 
the fact that they are patriotic to the core and 
that on the battlefield they are not afraid of the 
belching cannon. They have done their duty in 
this regard. And when we look into the history 

161 



Ifi2 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

of the Colored people since the Civil \\'ar we are 
satisfied that the progress which has been made, 
is a most satisfactory one. It is acknowledged 
by some of the leading White men of the nation, 
that the progress of the Negro Race since the 
Rebellion has been unparalleled in history. 

But that there is much to be done by my own 
people yet. is evident. We have just begun the 
work of our race. A race that is not over fifty 
years old in the arts of civilization, is but an in- 
fant in swaddling clothes. We are to wait until 
lie is able to walk and especially to work. The 
Xegro Race in this country has a most trying 
•ordeal before it. It is one of the most difficult 
•of undertakings, to work out our destiny in a 
land of such high civilization as that of this 
'Country. \\^hile on the one hand it would seem 
an easier task in such a civilization, because of 
the advantages which we have thrown about us; 
■on the other hand, there are probably more dis- 
advantages. And why? For the simple reason 
tliat the Colored man coiues out of the past 
without the centuries of training which the White 
man has. He comes out of the past without 
any history. He comes out of the past in a 
crude condition, untrained and with the curse of 
slavery still resting on him. It will take time for 
him to prepare himself to compete with the 



THE NE(tKO PHOBLKM !(« 

W'liitc man and compete he must ! The Colored 
people must wake up to the fact that they have 
to pay for everything that they get in this coun- 
try. The mystic "mule and forty acres," promised 
hy Uncle Sam, has never been forthcoming. And 
this is but an indication of any other mystic gifts 
tliat we might dream of in days to come. It will 
be by the dint of hard labor, that the Colored man 
will rise and make his mark. There are many 
features of this situation which we will be com- 
pelled to look into and many conditions which 
we must face, as men. 

I have often asked myself the question,, why 
is it that on our railroads and street car tracks, 
there is such a lack of our working men? Wq 
see thousands upon thousands of white men, 
chiefly foreigners. There was a time when the 
larger portion of railroad laborers was Colored 
men. There are two or three reasons for this 
which are obvious. One is that the foreigner 
will work for a cheaper wage and will live on less 
than the Colored man. He is willing to under- 
go certain hardships and privations that the Col- 
ored man does not undergo. I am not willing 
to concede that he is a better workman than the 
Colored man, for the Colored man has proven 
his ability as a laborer along every line of work. 
Another reason is that the White man may be 



If54 OUT OP THE BRIARS 

more reliable. He can be depended on with 
more certainty. And at this point let me say that 
if the Colored race is ever to take its place in 
the mart of trade, it must become more reliable. 
Promises must be kept. When a man agrees 
to work for six days in the week, for a certain 
number of weeks, he must stay his time out and 
do his work. It is not a question of his disliking 
the work or the employer, but the question of his 
fidelity to his trust. For this reason, that the 
Colored man is not faithful to his promises, he 
has been discounted in the field of manual labor. 
The more important the job of the employer, the 
more important the fidelity of the employee. No 
employer wishes to undertake an extensive and 
costly piece of work and be dependent on a 
class of labor that may fail him at the place 
where he needs steady, persistent work. So he 
will, in making his choice select that class of 
labor that will stick to him through thick and 
thin. Fidelity to a trust is one of the essentials 
of man and womanhood that must be cultivated 
among my people. If I am correctly informed, 
I understand that in our large cities, our girls 
are not holding their own as house servants. 
They are being set aside for the White girls and 
these for the most part are foreigners also. Here 
is a large and remunerative field that will be ul- 



THE NEGRO PROBLEM Ki") 

tiinately closed to our girls if they do not take 
hold of the situation and meet all competition. 
Surely it is due us, if we make good, to receive 
the labor that is being given out on every hand. 
We were here before the foreigner and are the 
native laborers of the country. And the country 
owes it to us to give our race the labor of the 
field, of the trades and of the homes, if we merit 
it. 1 greatly fear, however, that we do not merit 
it. We need more sterling worth among us. 

The cities are becoming the great centers ot 
my people and in these cities there is plenty to 
do. The work is there. It must be done. My 
people must live. They must have money to 
live. They should get this money honestly, and 
this means by work. But suppose that the Col- 
ored people of the cities, both North and South, 
fail in getting their portion of the work that is 
to be done, how are they going to live? That is 
the question. And we are sure of this con- 
clusion, that if a man does not earn his bread 
by the sweat of his brow, wdiich is the Divinely 
a])pointed way to earn it, that he will be forced 
to earn it in some dislionorable manner. He 
will be forced to become more or less a criminal. 
He will become a menace rather than a benefit, 
to the community in which he lives. So that 
unless my people look to their own welfare in 



I<i6 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

our cities there is an ever growing future of 
darkness for them. I need not stop to tell of the 
unsanitary conditions in which they live. These 
conditions are enough to deplete their living 
greatly every year. I need not talk of the crowded 
tenement houses of the city where many persons 
of both sexes are frequently huddled into one 
room and many families into one house. I need 
not tell of the bawdy houses, the gambling dens 
and the saloons, thickly scattered through the 
sections of the city where the Colored people 
live. It is enough to damn them all. I need 
not tell of the growing criminal class among the 
Negroes in the cities and of the recruits that 
flow in from the South every year. I need not 
speak of the White and the Black Slave traffic 
among the young girls of both races. The cities 
are the death centers of the Negro race, unless 
there is something radically done to overtake 
these conditions. This, of course, is the dark 
side of the picture, but I have not painted it as 
dark as it is. It would be impossible to do this. 
It might be profitable for my readers, when they 
are in Philadelphia, to visit Soutli street and its 
adjoining streets, that they may see with their 
own eyes, the signs of infamy, idleness and de- 
Ijauch among my people. You will And scores 
of young men there well dressed, simply strag- 



*■ 



TJIE NE(t1R0 problem 167 

gling about. How do they live? Why are they 
not at work? The dens of infamy hidden in 
houses answer to their vocations. 

It would be well in our cities to have such 
municipal regulations that such loafers, male or 
female, could be arrested, unless they could show 
that they were actually engaged in some legiti- 
mate work. Unless something of the kind is 
done in the cities, they will become more and 
more the cess pools of sin and death, and into 
these pools thousands upon thousands of my peo- 
ple will be thrown annually to sink to hell ! 

There is not only the obstacle of instability 
which my people must overcome in order that 
they may get and hold the place that they should 
have in the field of labor, but the Trades Unions 
are rapidly closing up these fields against the 
Colored laborers. The basis of the opposition 
to the Colored people is primarily the desire to 
eliminate him from the ordinary industrial lines 
of work that he will not be able to compete with 
the White man. Of course, if he is not per- 
mitted to work there is no danger of competi- 
tion. This is the real cause of the opposition 
of Labor Unions to the Colored laborer, but this 
cause is hidden, and the outward cause is. be- 
cause his skin is black. They do not want to 
work by the side of the black man. This, how- 



168 OUT OP THE BRIARS 

ever is but a good excuse in the mouth of the 
white man for it is accepted as satisfactory by 
the white employer. An examination into labor 
conditions in our Northern cities reveals a de- 
plorable condition so far as the Colored man is 
concerned. He cannot get a job calling for the 
skilled artisan however skilled he may be. The 
Union will not permit him to win his bread by 
tlie sweat of his brow. He cannot work because 
he is not allowed to work. What is to be done 
for hundreds of laborers who are thus excluded 
from the fields of honest livelihood? There is 
no likelihood that these avenues will ever be 
opened and unless he can find employment among 
his own people of wdiat value is his skill as an 
artisan to him and of what use is the acquiring 
of such a training? The only answer to this 
question is that the Colored laborer must thor- 
oughly prepare himself and be on the ground 
ready for action. He must be patient. He must 
lie prepared to meet every objectional condition 
with manliness and kindness, for the odds are 
against him. There are many lessons that we 
have learned and there are many lessons yet to 
be learned. New conditions in this most com- 
plex civilization must be met with the applica- 
tion of the principles of fidelity, honesty, indus- 



THE NEGRO PUOBLElSr li;9 

try. and the like, or we will never win for the 
race in this country. 

Another great need of my people is the owner- 
ship of their homes. This makes the people, 
•citizens in the most realistic sense, they pay 
taxes and have the right of representation on 
such basis. They become independent. They 
are then able to lay up some money. They are 
prepared to enjoy life in its real and true sense. 
They will command the respect of the White 
race and share with them the burdens of govern- 
ment in times of peace. They become producers 
to some degree. There cannot be said too much 
in favor of the gospel of ownership in this form 
of government. It is our sheet-anchor of hope. 
The money that is paid out annually for rent if 
invested through the right channels will in a few 
years pay for the rented house. The time seems 
to be drawing closer when it will be more dif- 
ficult for a Colored man to buy good property. 
1 here are many sections now in our cities from 
which the Colored man is eliminated as a pur-, 
chaser. The rule is to conhne him to certain 
undesirable sections of the city. This can lie 
overcome to some degree bv the practice of 
economy and the purchase in the next few years 
<of homes. 

I wish it to be known that I am bv no means 



170 <)l T OF THE BRIAKS 

a pessimist, regarding my people. The same 
God made my race that made the White race 
and He has a destiny for us and He is with 
us that we may reach that destiny. But I 
realize that we have our own part to perform 
and that it must be done on the foundation of 
certain great principles which God Himself has 
taught us in His Book. It is in recognition of 
these eternal laws that I speak, these principles 
will stand forever and the people that puts them 
into daily practice, will abide with the principles, 
but the people who violate them must go down. 
I am deeply interested in the education of the 
ministry of the race. There are thousands of 
Colored preachers whose education is sadly defici- 
ent. They are really not capable of doing the 
work of ministry either in or out of the pulpit, 
and yet they are leading millions of the people. 
In a most peculiar sense the Colored pastor is 
the leader of his flock. The members of the 
church follow him and that too almost blindly. 
They will condone his faults, overlook his ig- 
norance, and receive what he says as '^'The law 
and the Gospel." That the people are disposed 
to this most kindly attitude toward their ministers 
is most praiseworthy, but that in many cases the 
ministers are unworthy of such confidence is 
most lamentable. It has been carefullv estimated 



THE NE(iKO PK(^BLK vl 171 

that only about ten per cent of the pastors who 
have been ordained are college men and that the 
average education of the Colored minister is not 
above the seventh or eighth grade of the common 
school, with practically no Bible or Theological 
training. This is a sad state of affairs when 
we consider that the minister is the leader of 
the people. And I am sorry to say that the dis- 
position to improve themselves is not apparent 
on the part of many of these ministers. They 
rather make pretensions and hide behind these 
pretensions, they mask themselves behind the 
smattering of an education, and think that they 
are passing for educated men ; but how sadly 
they are deceived. How this condition is to be 
remedied is yet to be seen. It is evident that the 
present system of ministerial education in vogue 
is not sufficient for the need. Out of over fifteen 
hundred young men who enter the ministry year- 
ly, only ten per cent are graduated in the Theo- 
logical course of all our schools. The schools 
of the United States doing Theological Training 
for the ministry of the Negro race are therefore 
not beginning to do the work. 

I might mention in this connection that there 
is an organization which is beginning this work 
in the right manner, The Bible Educational As- 
sociation, with headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa. 



OUT OF the: briars 



This is an association of Bible colleges or 
schools. These schools are located where they 
are needed and maintained by the Association. 
l*)y the plan of this Association schools can be 
established where the ministers are located as 
pastors and the advantages of this training is 
thereby brought to their very doors. The Bible 
College of Philadelphia and the Bible College 
of Washington, D. C, both schools of this As 
sociation are doing a great work. The ministers 
are being greatly benefited by taking- the prac- 
tical and helpful courses. These schools train 
also young men for the ministry. 

There is much more that I might say on this 
great subject of the Negro Problem, but time 
and space will not allow. Whatever course may 
be pursued and plans adopted, it must always be 
remembered that "They labor in vain, except 
the Lord build the house." Our plans are like 
the nests of mice, the straw before the wind, 
the dust in the gale, they amount to nothing 
without God's co-operation. And His co-opera- 
tion cannot be had without our obedience to His 
laws and commands. The people of this coun- 
try of both races have much to learn of vital 
(iodliness. The prejudice which exists in both 
races, the hatred and antagonism engendered 
thereby, the separation of the races in educa- 



THE NE(^KO PROBLEM 



tional and religious matters, are all parts of the 
condition which we are forced to face and in 
some manner to meet. Both races must know 
each other better. They must recognize the 
rights and privileges of manhood and woman- 
hood They must build promotion, on merit and 
service, on ability, regardless of the color of the 
skin or previous condition of servitude. All 
must become the followers of the Meek and 
Lowly Christ, and they wnll be brothers and 
our brothers' keepers. There is no Fatherhood 
of God and Brotherhood of Man, excepting on 
this foundation. Whether I live to see it or not, 
the Negro problem will never be settled, unless 
on this basis. 



^^rmnuB 



^rnmniii 



Acquaintance With God. 

Thus said the Lord, In this thmi shalt know that I am 
the Lord : Behold I will smite with the rod that is in 
mine hand upon the waters in the river and they shall 
be turned into blood. — Exodus 7:17. 



There are many perplexities which are not ex- 
plained by philosophers. Aleii of scholarly re- 
nown have by no means been able to comprehend 
the mysteries of God. In His Omnipotence, Om- 
nicience and Omnipresence, he enveloped ]\Ioses, 
the great law-giver, btit with His God. The 
power that was to uphold Closes was not inborn 
nor was it acquired, but it was God. The omni- 
presence, the hand that was to guide him in all 
his earthly wanderings was not his own hand, 
but the hand of his God. So that whatever of 
success came to Piloses, God would have ALoses 
as well as us. to know, that it came from the 
blessings of God aud uot through the wisdom or 
the efforts of man. Therefore, let us render 
obedience to our God. who has promised us, that 
although the heavens and the earth pass away, 
177 



ITS OIT OF THK BRIARS 

not one jot or tittle of His Word or of His law, 
shall in any wise pass, until all be fulfilled. 
We discover in the text the first great truth, 
that God wishes us to know Him. 

The providences of God were manifested to 
Aloses through His dealings with him. This is 
one of God's ways of making himself known to 
us. But our eyes must be open to the fact that 
it is God who deals with us in our conditions 
and circumstances of life — yes, it is God. We 
may say that it is Nature, that it is Law, that it 
is Force, but herein are we blind, for God says 
that "In this thou shalt know." The doings of 
God are frequently through nature, sometimes 
above nature, as in the case of turning the water 
of the river into blood, but we are to be able to 
see that it is God's hand that moves and God's 
voice that speaks. If a man knows not God he 
will always attribute the doings of God in his 
life to some other cause or causes ; but if he know 
God, he thus becomes better acquainted with 
God. So in the case of Moses, God's promise 
was sufficient to allow him and the Jewish people 
to accomplish results which were replete with 
honor and glory. These pilgrims on their way 
to the Promised Land of Canaan were full of 
faith and confidence in God, they believed Him, 
they knew Him. He had promised them that 



SKltMONS 179 

He would bring- them to this land that "Flowed 
with milk and honey" and nothing could turn 
Him from the fulfilment of this promise; no, 
not even the sins of His people. For did they 
not rebel against Him and sin most greviously 
against Him in the wilderness, and yet did He 
not bring them into Canaan? 

"Behold I will smite the water of the river 
with the rod that is in mine hand and it shall 
be turned into blood." 

The church is the receptacle of truth. God 
has always committed His truth to His chosen 
people, to the believers, the church. The church 
*is devoted and consecrated in word and action 
to the glory and the service of God. Through 
it He has caused the light to shine in darkness, 
Flis love to fall into our hearts, the light of His 
knowledge and glory has appeared in th6 face of 
Jesus Christ, Flis Son, who is the great Flead of 
the Church. God appeared to Moses through 
Jehovah, the Head of the Church, and it was 
upon the strong arm of Jehovah that Moses 
leaned and it is upon the same strong arm that 
we, the church in this day, also lean. Moses 
saw the fire in the Burning Bush and he heard 
the voice out of the Bush. He turned and saw 
that the Bush was burning, but that it was not 
consumed. My brethren, do you know that this 
Burning Bush of the desert is a type of the 



180 OUT (>F THE BRIARS 

church? It is the church passing" through the 
fiery trials of this world, the church burning on 
every hand with temptations, troubles, doubts, 
distresses, tribulations, sufferings, and yet she 
is not consumed. So Closes was taught at the 
very beginning of his ministry that God was in 
the church through the mediation of Jesus Christ 
and that things were made to work together for 
good to her. Thou, the Church, shall know that 
I am the Lord. Lofty cedars, towering oaks, 
bramble bushes, the national ca]:iital, the House 
of the Lord, all these may attract the multitudes 
of sight-seers, but God's own people shall know- 
that He is God and that there is no other God. 

The text also teaches us that. 

H. (jod is prompt in the keeping of His 
promises. 

Wherever two or three of God's servants are 
gathered together in Llis name, God is in the 
midst of them to do all that Lie has promised. 
He is prompt t(T keep His word. He rides upon 
the wings of the wind and upon the wings of 
angels and upon the lightning, that He may meet 
all His engagements. We see Llim in the return 
of His prodigals. We see Him every where, 
keeping faith, doing His will, fulfilling His 
promises. He is the omnipresent God ! Because 
of His promptness Llis people are always able 
to confide in Him. 



SERMONS ISI 



God is prompt in sustaining- the physical needs 
of the universe. It is worth our while to look 
into God's storehouse to see how He has filled 
it with food for the flying fowl, the fish of the 
sea, the beast of the field, and man, the Lord of 
the earth. Food and fuel, light and heat, air 
and water, soil and seed, wind and rain, snow 
and frost, these are the agents of His prompt 
action as the Father of the Universe. Prove 
me now herewith, saith the Lord, and see if I 
will not open the windows of heaven and pour 
you out such a blessing that there will not be 
room enough to receive it. .(]\Ial. ii:i-ii.) 

God is as prompt in sustaining the needs of 
man's soul. He was with our forefathers. He 
was with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He was 
with Noah, He was with Enoch, He was with 
Abel, He was with our first parents, xA-dam and 
Eve, all these in their experiences and lives at- 
tested the fact that God saved them and saved 
them at the right time. He gave them His own 
salvation and not the salvation of another. All 
the Saints of the ages have depended on God's 
promptness to do what he promised He would 
do. There is not an instance in the history of 
His people or in our own experience, if we inter^ 
pret His dealing aright, where He has not 
promptly kept His word of ])romise. Every 
child of God has his spiritual battles to fight. 



182 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

But depending on God with the musket of His 
grace he will rout the enemy. Satan in all his 
hellish rage is not able to overthrow the bul- 
warks of the church behind which the believer 
stands to destroy the forces of evil. God was 
prompt in striking the sea and His people were 
prompt in crossing. He was prompt in leading 
His armies and they were prompt in win'iing 
the victories. Jehovah is prompt in aiding His 
own and His own are quick in winning the land 
of spiritual freedom. 

The river was turned into blood and all the 
waters of Egypt were instantly changed into 
blood. But God's river is a river of the water of 
life. Consider, my brethren, these great types 
of the Bible — tliese rivers of blood, these rivers 
of water, these rivers of life! God stands with 
His rod stretched over every river ; your sins^ 
your wickedness, may turn the waters of life 
into the blood of death ; which, what, shall it 
be? God says to you and hear ye His voice, 
"Come now let us reason together, your sins 
though they be as scarlet, I will make them like 
snow, though they be red like crimson, I will 
make them like wool." None, my friends, but 
God can work these changes. The church is 
moving on with the march of the centuries. She 
is grandly marching on ! Moses has gone, Joshua 



SEHMON.S is;? 

has gone, the prophets have gone, the apostles 
have gone, the saints of the Christian era have 
gone, and we are passing on, but God is with us 
and He is prompt in keeping His word. 
"On the other side of Jordan, in the sweet fields 

of Eden, 
Where the Tree of Life is blooming, there is 
rest for you." 

in. The text teaches us that the river, turned 
into blood, is the Type of Christ. 

Jehovah, or Jesus, in Egypt, turned the water 
into blood; Jehovah, or Jesus, in Canaan, in the 
country of Galilee, turned the water into wine. 
"The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin." 
The wine of the Communion Table is the sym- 
bol of His blood. In these last days God has 
spoken to us in the person of His Son. In Him 
was life, and the life was the light of men. He 
came into our own. flesh and blood and dwelt 
among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as 
of the only begotten of the Father. "Our life 
is hid with Christ, in God." These are most . 
wonderful words ! 

But let us remember that the rivers of blood 
in Egypt did not change the heart of Pharaoh, 
neither did they change the hearts of the Eg>'p- 
tians. The blood of Christ has been shed but it 
is of no avail to them that will not accept its 



1S4 OUT OF THE liRIARS 

saving- power. Christ died for all but are all 
saved? How many are saved? Are you saved? 
If so, why? Oh, my friends, it is the blood of 
Christ that availeth all things with God. 

"What can save my soul from sin? 
Nothing but the blood of Jesus." 

''Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is 
given. He is the wonderful Counselor, the mighty 
God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Fa- 
ther." Just as Pharaoh and his hosts were strewn 
in death upon the sands of the sea, so Satan and 
his hosts will be strewn upon the land of time. 
Christ is otn- mighty Captain. He has led His 
"battle strong-, through the ages of the past and 
on through the ages of time to come. He will 
lead to victory. His blood is all-availing with 
God and God is the ruler of the universe. It is 
for Christ's sake that God hears and answers our 
prayers. It is for Christ's sake that He saves our 
souls. It is for Christ's sake that He will make 
lis- kings and priests to rule and reign with Him 
forever. It is for Christ's sake that He has pre- 
pared for us the Canaan that lies beyond the 
Jordan of Death and it is for Christ's sake that 
He is with us today. And after while we will 
sing, "Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
Thou (Christ) art with me. thy rod and thy 
staflf, they comfort mc.'' 



SERMONS l'^-' 



••Thus said the Lord, m this thou shalt know 
that 1 aui the Lord: IJehokl I will smite witlv 
the rod in mine hand upon the waters of the 
river and they shall he turned into blood." God 
•grant to bless every soul here to-day with the 
l)lessed words of this text. 



The Intercession of Christ. 

"He evor liveth to make intercession for them."" — He- 
l)rews 8:25. 

Christ had completed His work on the earth. 
He had kept the faith, fulfilled the law, and 
suffered its penalty in His death. His work, 
therefore, so far as the earthly conditions and 
needs were concerned, was completed. Lie did 
this work, it must he remembered, not on his 
•own account or for himself, but on your account 
and for you. He was acting- in the capacity of 
a representative while on the earth, so that when 
his life in the flesh had been finished, it might 
l)ecome your life and my life, through faith. 
We are told by the apostle that after this, i. e.. 
He had finished His work here, He was believed 
■on in the world, justified in the spirit, seen of 
angels, received into glory where He ever liveth 
to make intercession for us." We notice that 
.this passage teaches us, that 

1. Christ was absolutelv free from selfishness. 



186 (U^T OP THE BRIARS 

"Greater love liath no man than this that he 
lay down his life for his friends." Yes, there is 
a^greater love, for Christ laid down his life for 
His enemies. Study the life of Christ as He 
lived here below, see how free He was from the 
selfish taint of sin which lurks in our natures, 
and alas, too frequently is the ruling passions 
of our lives. With Christ, others were first in 
consideration and in service ; but with us, we are 
the first to be considered and served and others 
must wait; then if there is opportunity or time 
they will be considered and served. Christ 
opened the gate of righteousness and the way 
that leads to life. This cost Him his own life, 
the price of it was not only the suffering and 
labors of life, but the pangs of the physical, and 
the eternal pains of the spiritual, death ; for you 
must know that Christ tasted the death 
for every man. We can have no conception of 
what death meant to Him and yet He went down 
to death willingly for you and for me. What 
are we doing that we may become human 
saviours of men, that we too may suffer and 
labor for others, that we may die that through 
our death others may life? These are vital ques- 
tions if you and I are to be known as His hum- 
ble followers ; if you and I are to share His 
glory with Him, we must also be with Him in 
His sufferings and death. "Enter in at the 



SERMONS ls7 

Strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the 
way that leads to death, but strait is the gate 
and narrow is the way that leadeth to life; 
many there be that go in at the former gate 
of death, but few find the strait gate of life." 

II. The purpose of Christ's life and death, was 
that He might be able to give life unto others. 
"Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son that 
thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast 
given him power over all flesh that he should 
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given 
him." John i8:i, 2. 

We read that "To as many as received him. 
to them gave He power to become the sons 
or the children of Gk)d." It is interesting to 
notice that the word translated "power" here, 
means a great deal more than power or author- 
ity. It has a germinal meaning and has refer- 
ence to life. The idea is that Christ plants in 
us the seed of eternal life and it grows and 
takes root in the heart and life of every be- 
liever and they thereby become the children of 
God. There is therefore the germ of eternal 
life just as there is the germ of physical or mor- 
tal life. The only purpose which Christ had in 
coming into human flesh was that He might be 
able thereby to plant in human nature the seed 
of everlasting life, which' sin had prevented 
from bearing fruit. So He became one of us, 



iss Ol T OF THE BRIARS 

bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, our 
very brother. The very Hfe which He hved in 
the flesh is the pattern for our hves. He is our 
example in thought, word, and action. \\'e are 
to hve His Hfe by lettinq- Christ hve in us. As 
Paul said regarding sin. "It is not I but sin that 
dwelleth in me," so he also said that Christ 
dwelt in him and we know that Christ dwelleth 
in us and that through Him we can do all things. 
We are very prone to think always of Christ's 
Divinity and to seek to explain His life on this 
I'asis, this is a great mistake. We are to look 
on Christ as also human, a real man ; His trials 
and, temptations real; His limitations as a man, 
real : His knowledge and experience as a man, 
real. Such reflections as these bring Him very 
near to us and become a great inspiration to us 
in that they make His ideal life, a real life; 
hence His ideal human life becomes to us a real 
human life. "He came that we might have life 
and that we might have it more abundant." Our 
life, that is our Christ-life, may become abundant 
in its power, in its light, in its fruits, if we will 
walk and talk with Jesus daily. He is the vine 
and we are the branches. But in order that the 
branches may live and bear fruit, they must abide 
in the vine. Jesus taught us that if we obeyed 
Him. we were abiding in Him. Obedience there- 
fore is the vital union between us and Christ, 



SERMONS 1N9 

the \'ine. Disobedience is the cutting of the 
branch off from the vine and the branch dies. 

This leads us to another great fact in the text, 
namely that 

III. Christ is now engaged in making inter- 
cession for us at God's throne. 

His work on earth is finished, but in Heaven. 
He is still engaged in our l)ehalf. The priest of 
the Mosaic Dispensation, made intercession for 
the people. He oft'ered sacrifice for them and 
then he entered into the temple, the Holy of 
Holies, once a year, in the person of the High 
Priest and pra}ed for the people. But this 
priest was a sinner like the people. He had to 
first oft'er sacrifice for himself then for the 
people. I le has passed away. The earthly 
priesthood, in the }\Iosaic sense, is no more. This 
priest was but a type of Christ. Christ is the 
great anti-type. Christ oft'ered His sacrifice also, 
which wasf His own life. He made no sacrifice 
for himself, for He was without sin, but He 
made sacrifice for the people. Xow He has 
entered into the temple on High., into the Holy 
of Holies, where He stands to plead for you and 
for me. Intercession here, means that Christ is 
our Advocate at the throne of God. He is our 
lawyer m the supreme court of God- lie repre- 
sents us. He pleads our case, He defends our 
cause. There is nothing that takes place in our 



lf>0 ()\T OF THE BRIARS 

lives that He does not take note of, there is no 
sin that passes without Plis taking account of it, 
there is no thought, or word, or deed, that is not 
entered in the book of His Remembrance. He 
nnist keep an accurate account of our Hves, for 
He represents us at the Great White Throne. 
How wonderful is this thought and how inspir- 
ing ! Let us therefore make our intercessions to 
Him that He may take up our prayers and in 
His own Heavenly language, present them to our 
Heavenlv Father. 



Christ Glorified in His Word. 

"Let the word of Christ dwell in 3-011 richly in all 
wisdom."' — Col. 3:16. 

It is well nigh impossible for us to understand 
the power of a word. \\"e read that in the be- 
ginning God said, "Let there be light," these 
were the words or the Word. Who can tell the 
vvisdom and the power that dwelt in that word 
or command? ^^'e arc not able even now to 
measure the magnificent result, but we read, 
"And there was light." Christ stood at the seal- 
ed tomb and said. "Lazarus, come forth.'' This 
was the word or the command. It is not in the 
power of the human mind to comprehend the 
meaning, tlie power and the wisdom of this 
word, but we see the effect, "And Lazarus, came 



SKHMONS IHI 

forth." We take the Bible in its entirety and 
call it the Word of God, the Word of Christ. So 
that in the unfolding- of the text, we wish you 
to note that : 

I. The entire Scriptures, from Genesis to Rev- 
elation, is the Word of Christ. 

We must not look on the Bible as composed 
of parts when we make it, "The man of our 
counsel," the guide of our life. The entire book 
is the guide, the man, the law, the Gospel. There 
is a disposition of many Christians to attach 
more importance to one part of the Bible than 
another part. This is wrong- and it leads to 
evil in our lives. Every part of the Bible be- 
longs to the entire book, it cannot be detached, 
it must not be rendered less important than some 
other part, for it was all written for our instruc- 
tion and edification. So I would have you under- 
stand that the Bible itself in its entirety, is the 
Word of Christ, in the text, Christ is the light 
and the glory of every page of its history, proph- 
ecy, precept, promise, poetry, philosophy and 
practice. Human reason, effort and energy are 
too weak to have reached Heaven and brought 
down to us the riches of the Word of God. No 
man hath come down from Heaven to tell us 
of the wonders of the spiritual life, but the man, 
Christ Jesus. He is the pearl of priceless value, 



Ift2 OTT OF THE BlUARS 

\vhich we are to find hidden in this Word. Let 
the Word of Christ reign in you when your 
greatest interests are at stake, when your strong- 
est passions are raging, and He will guide you 
into all truth and grace, and you will sing, "Glory 
to God in the highest, Peace on earth. Good 
will to men." 

The r>il)le is the Word of Christ, because He 
is the Author. He is the Jehovah of the Old 
Testament, and the Jesus of the New Testament. 
He spake to the Prophets as well as to the Apos- 
tles. He was in that beginning which was be- 
fore time, when He is called the A\'ord of God, 
when lie was associated with God, and when He 
was God, and He was also in that beginning 
which marks the first moment, the first hour, 
the first day of time, when all things were made 
by Him and without Him was nothing made 
which was made. He is known as the Lamb 
Avhicli was slain from the foundation of the 
world, the everlasting Prince, the Holy One. 
As the ^^'ord of God, Christ is the great and 
only revealer of God and His revelation or rev- 
elations are the Bible, the Scriptures, the Word 
of God. We are exhorted therefore to see that 
great com]:)any which doth encompass us about 
and which looks down upon us, filled with God's 
wisdom and power, because the word of Christ 



SKH.\[()NS 103 

dwells richly in us. We are to look to Jesus as 
not only the author of His own Word, but also 
through this word, as the author and finisher 
of our faith, or religion. This word must dwell 
richly in the heart that the believer may be able 
to glorify God and to strive for that faith which 
is steadfast and unmovable, for let us remem- 
ber that faith conieth Ijy hearing, and hearing by 
the word of God. Just as Christ appeared to 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, to whom He 
said, "I will be thy mouth," so He appears today 
to every believer, in His Word. All these holy 
men of old spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes the things 
of God and of Christ, and tells them to us in 
words. He gives us Gods and Christ's words. 
When Joshua prayed that the sun might stand 
still, the sun in his fiery course stood still. Why? 
Because it was the word of God in Joshua 
which commanded the sun to stand still. I pray 
God, my brethren, that you may be filled richly 
with the word of God in all wisdom, that your 
own hearts may be filled with all spiritual bless- 
ing; that the wickedness which is flooding the 
country in hellish rage, may be stopped ; that 
sinners may be brought to repentance ; that the 
church may triumph most gloriously, and that 
the whole earth may be filled with righteous- 



1^4 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

iiess as the waters cover the deep. We need 

t(:>day another Pentecost, when thousands shall 

be converted to God, and that time wall come 

just as soon as God's disciples are filled with the 

word of God. 

II. The Word of Christ Dwelling in Us is Our 

Strength. 

The Word reveals to us the saving power of 
God. Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the Gos- 
pel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto 
salvation." Yes, it is the power of God unto 
salvation, that is the thought that you should 
take hold of. We need power, strength, in this 
world of weakness and sin, and we can get this 
power only by letting the Word of Christ, dwell 
in us richly. The Word of Christ dwelling in us 
will take us out of ourselves, teach us that labor, 
learning, house-hold duties, supporting our fam- 
ilies, being punctual to our duties in the church, 
avoiding quick tempers and unkind words, con- 
stitute the religion of Jesus Christ which we are 
to live. We must therefore be, "Doers of the 
Word and not hearers only." We must hear 
the Word on the Sabbatli and do it every day 
of the week. We are to look into the perfect 
law of liberty that wc may know what manner 
of persons we are, and to continue to look into 
this law, lest when we know, we should forget 



SEUMONS 19i 



what manner of persons we are. ''Pure and 
undefiled religion before God the Father is this, 
that we should visit the widow and the father- 
less in their affliction and keep ourselves un- 
spotted from the world." To do all these things, 
my brethren, the Word of God must dwell rich- 
ly in you, in wisdom, or there will not be enough 
strength in you to live this Christ-like life. His 
word is strength, because Christ dwells in His 
word, and if His word dwells in you, you will 
have the strength of Christ in you. See what 
Christ is, He is life and immortality, He gives 
repentance and remission of sins. He is the 
bread that cometh down from Heaven, His 
blood cleanseth from all sin, He saves, and He 
does all these things in and through His word. 
Is that word in you ? Lean on Him in His word, 
and He will give you daily strength, and guide 
you into all blessing', He will give you eternal 
life here and hereafter. 

HI. His Word Reveals to us the Plan of Sal- 
vation. 

We would know nothing of the Saviour, nor 
of the sinner" except through His word. He 
came to seek and to save that which was lost. 
Yes, it was lost, the soul of man. What we know 
of sin, of Satan, of hell, of heaven, of repent- 
ance, of faith, of justification, of sanctification. 



!•)« OTT (^F THE BRIARS 

of glorification^ we know through His word, 
and whatever we shall experience of these bless- 
ings, we shall experience through His word. 

"^I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
the end, the first and the last, which is and was 
and is to come." We must be saved through His 
word. Job said, "I know that my Redeemer 
liveth, and that I shall stand upon the earth at 
the latter days and though after my skin worms 
destroy this body, yet in my flesh will I see God 
whom mine eyes shall see for myself and not 
another." How did Job get this knowledge? 
It was through the Word of God, doubtless 
spoken to him. And whatever we know of sal- 
vation, of sin, or of the resurrection of the dead, 
of Heaven and hell, of eternity, of immortality, 
we must get it out of the Word of Christ. I 
exhort you, therefore, my dear brethren, to have 
the Word of Christ dwelling in you richly in 
wisdom ; study it daily, commit it to memory, 
put it into practice every hour, turn its precepts 
into practice, and you will rejoice in its power 
to redeem you from your sins, and to fill your 
hearts with power, joy and peace. Amen. 



SER>r<:)NS li*7 

Where Is Your Tent? 

"And Isaac departed and pitched his tent in the val- 
ley of Gerar and dwelt there." — Gen. 26:17. 

Our text is found in connection with a para- 
graph of pecuhar weight and sublimity. The 
IsraeHtes in -ah their wanderings had a high re- 
gard for the Levites. They formed the tribe of 
Levi, which filled a most imix>rtant place in the 
life of the Israelites. The entire nation and 
government was permeated with their influence. 
They were the officers and teachers in the syna- 
^•ogue, or Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the 
center of Hebrew life. All the encampments of 
the Israelites was made around the Tabernacle. 
This tent was God's dwelling place, and whither 
the Israelites moved, they followed the Taber- 
nacle, it was not only their guide but their guard. 
When on the march they carried it with them, 
and when they were at rest they set it up. 

It is worthy of note that the Israelites always 
Jiad a high regard for their women. These wo- 
men were thoroughly identified with the history 
•of this people, and often filled prominent posi- 
tions. The influence and power of the Israel- 
itish w^omen is well worth careful study that we 
may learn some valuable lessons therefrom. 
]Vfiriam was very closely associated with Moses 
;and Aaron. Deborah was a mighty leader of 



\m OUT OF THE BRIARS 

her people. Tliere were many prophetesses such 
as Anna at the temple. The wives of such men 
as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob exerted a great 
influence over these men, for they were women 
of fine judgment, and highly developed relig- 
ious characters. The wife of Abraham was al- 
ways with him for "better or worse," through 
good and evil report. She was faithful and effi- 
cient as his life-companion. She did not live 
with him for ornament or social distinction, 
but for what she could contribute to his happi- 
ness and success. She made her life, his Hfe ; 
her destiny, his destiny. 

On this occasion of your anniversary, I take 
this opportunity to call your attention to the di- 
rection in which you are pitching your tent. We 
cannot stand still. We choose the place of our 
tent today, and we will have to choose the place 
where we will pitch it tomorrow. Whither are 
you going and where are you to pitch your tent? 
How important these questions. You are here 
tonight, with your tears and afifection, your sym' 
pathy and smiles, not for show, but that you 
might hear the Gospel, and let the world know 
that you are moving in the right direction, and 
that your tent will be pitched nearer Heaven. 
You are here, as wives and mothers and sisters, 
to do your part by the men whom God has plac- 



sii:RMONvS ]r«!> 



ed you with, and to do your part by the chil- 
dren whom He has given you. This is what the 
Gospel teaches and your works and teachings, 
your by-laws and Christian characters, as a noble 
band of workers, all prove that you are pitched 
tonight about the Tabernacle of God, and that 
when His tent moves you will follow it. Moses 
tells us that at the commandment of the Lord 
the Israelites marched, and at the commandment 
of the Lord, they pitched their tents. The cloud 
of His presence was a shadow by the day and 
a light by night. They were safe with this Di- 
bine Leadership. 

In the same way He deals with us. He is 
still present, although not in the visible cloud, 
to shade us and give us light, but He is present 
in and through Jesus Christ who dwells in our 
midst. He will look after you, mothers and 
sisiters, who with tenderness and care will lead 
our girls and young women away from the dens 
of vice and sin, from brothels of debauchery 
and licentiousness, into the paths of virtue and 
holiness. You will teach them those lessons of 
dignity and character, and teach them the spirit 
and works of our blessed religion, which will 
bring them unto God and make them wise unto 
salvation. 

"Isaac pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar 



I'On OL'T OP THE BRIARS 

and dwelt there." He had a reason for so doing. 
We find that a jealousy had sprung up between 
Abimelek, the Philistines, and Isaac and his 
followers. They could no longer remain near 
neighbors. The Philistines had filled the wells 
which Abraham had dug in his day, and in many 
other ways they were annoying the righteous 
heart of Isaac. 

So there are jealousies today that spring up 
among God's people, and they cause a great 
deal of trouble. These troubles must be settled 
in some way, and the example of Isaac is now 
and always before us. You will not wait to carry 
out the purposes of such evil passions, but will 
cause your heart-tent to be pitched in another 
direction. 

You have adopted the Lily for your name. 
It grows in the valley. It is the symbol of Christ. 
It represents beauty and purity. Christ taught 
us, consider the lilies, how they grow; they grew 
in their loveliness under the sunshine and show- 
ers which God sent them. They fulfilled their 
mission. The Master told us that Solomon, in 
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these 
simple little flowers, and so it was, the heart 
may be so arrayed, but not the body. The lily 
is an emblem of the purity of God Himself. You 
have chosen this name. "The lilies of the val- 



SERMONS 201 

ley," as your name and title, and it should make 
you as the hand-maidens of the Lord, tender, 
pure, strong, noble, Christ-like; no anger, jeal- 
ousy, hatred, and like passions should be permit- 
ted to dwell in your hearts for one moment, 
and my advice to all the members present, is that 
you should go into this or some other similar 
society, for these dear sisters have pitched their 
tents in the valley of Christianity, and not only 
that, but thank God, they are dwelling there. 
Yes, they have pitched their tent in the valley 
;among the lilies. They are humble and meek. 
They are willing to do the little things for God 
and humanity. They are willing to be his hum- 
blest servants. They have planted the lilies in 
their hearts. They are living like the lilies, I 
i:rust. 

I compliment and congratulate you for the 
•splendid work which you have done during the 
year just closed. Your faith is proven by your 
works, and your works are the fruit of the Tree 
•of Life. We shall know the tree by its fruits. 
You are devoting your time and energies to 
God along new lines of thought and service, and 
new fields of usefulness are opening up before 
you. It is always the case when God's children 
are earnestly seeking to do his will. He will 
lead them into trreater fields of usefulness. I 



202 OUT OP THE BRIAKS 

bid you Godspeed. The army of God is hard 
on the march. Tliere are many trials and tribu- 
lationsj but God is our Captain, and He will lead 
us to grand victories. 

Abimelek and the Philistines have gone to 
their place. Moses, the servant of God, was 
succeeded by Joshua, and Joshua, by another 
as leader, and so God has been marching with 
His people through all the ages, leading them 
from one victory to another, into the very land 
of Promise, on the other side of Jordan. Study 
the history of God's people, follow the example 
of these illustrious leaders, do not fear, do not 
fret, but ever march along the Highway of the 
King. Ever take the name of Jesus with you. 
Pitch your tent always in the valley of Chris- 
tianity and toward Heaven. Always dwell in the 
right place, and move in the right direction, and 
at last you will wear the white robe of the right- 
eousness of Jesus Christ your Lord. Let this 
passage of Scripture be closely inscribed on your 
hearts, and Grace be unto you from Him who 
was and is and is to come. 

"Unto Him who hath loved us and washed us 
in His blood, and made us kings and priests, unto 
God the Father, to Him be glory and dominion 
now and forevermore. Amen." 



SKKMOXS :i#^ 

Christ's Ascension. 

"And it came to pass while he blessed them he was 
parted from them and carried into heaven." — Luke 15:51. 

The coming of the Lord to the nations of the 
earth was not that He might advertise Himself 
as a candidate for some high office among the 
nations, or in the nation to which he belonged. 
He came not as the Jews expected Him, for 
they were looking for some temporal ruler who 
would re-establish their temporal kingdom on 
the earth. Their idea was that some man would 
come and sit on the throne of David. Their 
dream was that the Hebrew people would be 
formed into the most powerful nation on the 
earth, and that in some mysterious, some mystic 
way, this great feat would be accomplished. 
God's own chosen people at that time had prac- 
tically no spiritual conception of what the King- 
dom of God meant. The disciples of Christ 
most frequently misconstrued His teachings on 
this subject. The case of Nicodemus is an illus- 
trious example of the spiritual misconception 
of the Jews. 

Christ came on a special mission, the saving 
of the lost, the saving of man. He is therefore 
represented as the Lamb that taketh away the 
sin of the world. When John, the Baptist saw 
Him coming towards him, walking on the shore 



•J«t OUT OF THE BRIARS 

of the river Jordan, he exclaimed, "Behold, the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
world." This spiritual work of Christ is un- 
changed. He will rule until the kingdoms of 
this world, become the kingdom of God. 

"He came unto His own and His own re- 
ceived him not," we read, because He did not 
come doing the temporal w^ork which they ex- 
pected Him to do, but He came unto His own, 
and in a grand sense it was through this coming", 
that the world has received a true conception of 
this Kingdom, and millions of hearts have ex- 
perienced this Kingdom set up in these hearts. 
The Kingdom of God is within you, and as 
heaven, it will work in and tlirough you, until 
you are entirely made spiritual. Christ has ever 
been the Light of the ^^''ord. He inspired our 
Pilgrim Fathers ; He was the friend of the poor 
Samaritans ; He sought and saved the needy, 
poor and sinning of His day. Indeed, the human 
founders of His Kingdom on the earth were the 
ignorant fishermen of Galilee. The law came 
through Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus 
Christ. His presence, His revelation, His mani- 
festation, His power. His goodness, thrilled the 
angels when they sang, "Glory to God in the 
highest, on earth peace, good-will to men." We 
arc liere to laud and to praise Him, and to say 



SKUMOXS L'O.-, 

as the Scriptures say, "Blessed is the womb that 
bare thee and the paps that gave thee suck." 

Sir Knights, we congratulate you on this noble 
spirit of acknowledging the ascension of Jesus 
Christ. We are here not to talk about the mys- 
tic ties which bind you together as a noble band 
of brothers, but to honor and glorify Him who 
rose from' the dead that our life and immortality 
might be brought to light. You have come from 
your asylum to this tabernacle that you may pay 
tribute to this ascension, the ascension day of 
the King of Kings. As Christ climbed the 
rugged hill of Calvary that He might set the 
captives free so we have climbed, as weary pil- 
grims, the holy mount of privilege that we might 
view the landscape o'er of our liberty on this 
and that side of Jordan. Let us raise our ban- 
ners and wield our swords for the defense of 
our country, and our helpless women and chil- 
dren. Let us be valiant soldiers not only of our 
own teaching as knights, but also of the Cross 
of Jesus Christ. We can know but one real 
captain; we can follow but one real leader; we 
can march in but one army ; we can have but 
one victory ; these are all in the Kingdom of God. 

When Jesus arose from the dead. He met 
His disciples and blessed them, and having com- 
pleted His mission on earth, He went on High, 



W«i(- olT OF THE BRIARS 

Init He has drilled us as He drilled those dis- 
ciples ; He has left us human leaders in His 
name and witli His authority, and to us He 
said, "If ye would be my disciples, deny your- 
selves, take up your cross and follow me." His 
work on earth is done, excepting throug-h you 
and me, the human agency which He employs. 
He is doing- His work at the right hand of His 
Father's throne that we may be able here, to 
come off more than conquerors through Him. 
He passed through the scenes of Gethsemane, 
He died on the cross of Calvary; He descended 
into hell or Hades that He might taste death 
for every man, and forty days after the resur- 
rection, He ascended on High. He went up on 
the pinions of the clouds until they received Him 
out of their sight. Then two men stood by the 
disciples who were gazing into heaven and said 
to them. "Why stand ye gazing into heaven, as 
ye see Him go up ye shall see Him likewise 
come down again." You have heard of Zerub- 
abel. you have met Darius and Cyrus, the Great, 
you have seen Jesus Christ ascending; those 
great, men will not return, but Jesus will come 
again to take you with Him in the next ascen- 
sion. He will not come again as the victim of 
pagan hostilities or Jewish persecution, but He 
is comino- without sin unto salvation as the 



SERMONS 207 



Spoiler of the grave, the conqueror of the world, 
the hero who conquered hell, and will lead us 
to victory over Satan and his forces." 

The Gospel and the Word are preached to you 
because you dwell in His secret place ; thus you 
are abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, 
stay with Ilim, tight on through the conflict, 
the battle may be fierce, but you shall win. You 
see the triumph from afar, your faith is your 
power. God the All-Glorious One is with you, 
for remember that when star will shine no more 
unto star, and planet cease to revolve around 
planet, wdien flowers fade to bloom no more, 
the \\'ord of our God endureth forever. Heaven 
is His throne and earth His footstool, and we 
are His children. 

I exhort you therefore to take Him more than 
ever before, as the J\Ian of your counsel, the 
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 

He has gone to prepare a place for you that 
where He is there ye may be also. 

'"Unto Him who hath loved us and washed 
us from our sins in His own blood, be glory 
and dominion now and evermore." 

There is death in the pot. — II Kings 4:40. 

In the year 895 B. C., in Syria, a certain 
woman resided. She was the wife of Obadiah, 
a devoted companion, a good, genial spirit ; she 



20^ OUT OF THE BlUARS 

Avas a model wife, but misfortune overtook her, 
and the bright days of prosperity and enjoy- 
ment passed under the dark clouds of adversity. 
The pleasant fragrance from the flowers faded 
and her husband too had passed to the bourne 
from whence none returns. 

She is now a widow left to contend against 
the hard and uns}'mpathizing world. 

"Trouble like a glooni}- cloud 
Gathered fast and thundered loud." 

Her husband and father was God above. Her 
old-time friends who knew and recognized her 
in her prosperity, now passed her by imnoticed. 
Adversity makes a great change in friendship. 
It renders friends, strangers, and breaks asunder 
the dearest ties. These friends were willing to- 
see her suffer and her children torn from her 
side and sold into slavery that her debts might 
be paid. There was no helping hand, no money 
to loan, no salvation from this awful condition, 
no one to become her surety, but above all this 
darkness of night and of cloud, God was dwell- 
ing, and watching. He never forsakes His own^ 
He may seem to do so, but never, never. 

God sent His servant Elisha to her and 
through him relieved her of all her troubles. 
Elisha was a mighty man of God. He had re- 
ceived the mantle of Elijah and was a student 



un<ler liini. He was full <if wisdom and under- 
standing, going" about in the spirit of Jehovah: 
serving the people, instructing them, leading 
tliem to higher life, and making them ac([uaint- 
ed with God and His ways. 

Elisha during a famine had the people to gath- 
er herbs that their hiniger might be relieved. 
Among those her1)s whieh were thrown into the 
pot, there was some poisonous herb which some 
one ha<l gathered I)y mistake, it too was thrown 
in. In the boiling of these together, the poison 
was spread through the pot. When the\' l)egan 
eating" the vegetable soup, the poison was dis- 
covered, Elijah was informed and destroved its 
ba<l effect. 

Jt i.s well for us to note that. 

1. The world is the pot. 

The world has been cur.sed by sin. There is 
in it both the good and the bad, both food and 
poison. God has placed us in the world that 
we may as Christians, do the work which KHsha 
did in his day. When we look about us, how 
many people we see who have been poisoned. 
There are murderers, suicides, thieves, robbers^ 
liars, all these are acting in the way they act 
and live, because they have in them poison. It 
is well for us to understand that we need not 
ex{>ect in this world to Hud the good unmixed 



OUT OF THE JJKIAKS 



fr(3m the evil. Christ prayed that God would 
not take His own out of the world, but that He 
would keep them from the evil in the world, and 
we are taught in the prayer called the Lord's 
Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliv- 
er us from evil." As God's children, we cannot 
mix with the children of this world. We cannot 
allow the amusements of this world and its 
allurements to lead us away from God and His 
Kingdom. We are in the world, but not of it. 
We are but pilgrirris, paissing through, on the 
way to the country of God, but all that we are 
and have are in this world; -just as all the herbs 
were thrown into the port', but there is also 
poison there. Is there a^y pleasure, without 
its tinge of pain? Is there any hope without 
■the presence of a cloud? Is there any expecta- 
tion without some kind of a disappointment? 
But Christ is our Elisha. The poison in the pot 
can be removed and He will ' remove it for us. 
The pleasures of the world may be rendered 
sweet and pure. The work of this world can be 
raised to the highest dignity. The power of 
this world may be turned to the highest good 
of all. We are not left helpless and hopeless. 

1 r. The temptations of the world are the fire 
under the pot. , 

The (juestion of temptations is a very interest- 



SERMONS 211 



iiii^- one, for the Christian. There are many 
who find their greatest trouble in temptations. 
They are not able to distinguish a temptation 
from a sin, and confusing them, they look upon 
themselves as very great sinners, because they 
have very great temptations. This is a false 
idea. A temptation is a trial. All temptations 
are not evil. There are also temptations that 
lead us to noble action. God, is not tempted of 
evil, neither does He tempt to, evil, but He do€s 
tempt us, to the good, and indeed, He permits 
Satan to ply us with temptations, and we by 
overcoming these temptations may grow strong 
and pure. 

Christ, the sinless man, was in the world, full 
of temptations, but He overcame them. His 
temptations were genuine, they were sinful, they 
would have proven destructive, but He over- 
came them and He overcame them without sin. 

It matters not what the temptation may be, 
however dark and sinful, it is with you as to the 
result of that temptation in your life. 

"Yield not to temptation, 
P'or 3'iolding is sin." 

It is the yielding that is sin. Resist the devil, 
and he will flee from you. Make friends of 
him and he will live with you. He will become 
a part of you, he will drag you down, he will 
work vour destruction. 



212 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

How often we realize that dark, sinful 
thoughts, pass through our minds. They are 
sins like a black clotid, sweeping over the beauti- 
ful landscape of the soul. Well, does this con- 
stitute sin ? By no means. It is only when these 
thoughts remain in the mind, when we harbor 
them, when we become fond of them; this is 
what forms sin in the soul. It is your work to 
expel them, to drive them out, to hate them. 

Paul said. When I would do good evil is pres- 
ent with me. How true this is with us today. 
Even in our holiest exercises, such as prayer, 
praise, worship, sin is found lurking in our as- 
pirations after God. Selfishness enters our pray- 
ers, selfishness frequently inspires our holiest 
hopes, selfishness poisons our love, doubt weakens 
our faith, and so M'e find in our religion and its 
life, the element of sin. This is the death in the 
pot. 

So the whole Bible deals with the problem 
of sin. The plan of salvation is simply the plan 
for removing sin from within and from without 
us. The mission of Christ is to .save the sinner 
from his sins. Frequently Chri.stians get the idea 
that salvation is to bring us at last to Heaven ; 
well, that is in a manner true, but remember that 
is the last work of salvation, bringing us to 
Heaven. Salvation deals with thousands of 



8KRM0N8 213 



things ill our lives here, before we are ready for 
Heaven. And indeed we can never enter I leaven 
with sin in our natures. Sin must be rooted out 
here in some manner. So we have our EHsha, 
lie can and does remove the death from the pot. 
lie is the bread of life, the water of life, in 
which there is no poison. 

1 beg" you, therefore, to take this text with 
you. Ponder over its deep meaning. Apply its 
truths to your own life, come to our Elisha that 
He may remove the death from your pot. Try 
and understand the deep meaning of your re- 
ligion and that it is a rule of life for every-day 
living. That it furnishes you with the wisdom 
and the |)Ower to overcome all the sin within 
you and all the temptations without you. There- 
fore watch and pray, lie diligent in season and 
out of season and put your trust in your Elisha, 
an<l He wJll make all things work together for 
your good. This is His promise. 



The Reward of the Righteous. 

"[■"or ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the in- 
h'eritance which the Lord your God giveth you." — Deut. 
12 -.g. 

A de.scription of Paradise is always acceptable 

to the humble believer. He is seeking the rest, 

the inheritance, which God has so abundanth' 



il4 OUT OP' THE BRIARS 

promised in His word. So our God has not 
omitted to give us glimpses of this Heavenly rest. 
We have gathered together our own sweet bun- 
■Jle of sentiments regarding it. They are evei 
a blooming garden of flowers by our pathway. 
We are to so live that we may daily prepare for 
this Home of the Soul. Hezekiah was ordered 
to set his house in order. He was reminded 
that he would soon be called to enter into this 
rest prepared for the people of God. He had 
something to do first, however — to set his house 
in order. 

We sadly realize that in the study of this 
deep question our knowledge of that country 
which is our eternal home, can be but faint. Paul 
saw something of its glory but would not 
undertake to describe it. And the glowing de- 
scriptions which John gives us in his Revelation, 
are most difficult to understand. They are fig- 
ures, they are poorly drawn pictures, outlines, 
photographs, of that Celestial Clime and its 
Holy Inhabitants. But it confirms our hopes, 
invigorates our strength, ennobles our efforts. 
Then let us study today something and some- 
what of this Happy Land. 

I. The Character of the Reward, the Inheri- 
tance. 

The Israelites were worn and weary, with the 



SERMONS 



desert journey. For forty years they had been 
wanderers, pilgrims, in a land of sand, rocks, 
barren waste and mountains. God so blessed 
them that their garments did not wear out, and 
He gave them water from the rocks and food 
from Heaven and flesh from the far countries. 
But this was not enough. They had been pro- 
mised a land that flowed with milk and honey, a 
land of rest, an inheritance. God had promised 
to Abraham that He would give them the land 
of Canaan for a possession, and that it should 
be inherited by all his children forever. While 
this .promise, had. been made centuries before 
their trials in the Wilderness, yet God had not 
forgotten His pledge and His people had not 
forgotten His promises. The great encourage- 
ment which Moses always brought forward that 
their strength might be renewed, was that God 
had made them a promise of a land of their own. 
With all their trials and disappointments, their 
mistakes and their failures, their doubts and per- 
plexities, God was with them and the Land of 
Canaan was just beyond the Jordan. 

It is well for us to keep in mind the journey ot 
the Israelites, between the Red Sea and the Jor- 
dan ; between the land of slavery and the land 
of liberty. For indeed we are making just such a 
journey now. We are on the march to our 



•21« OUT OF THE lUtlARvS 

ileavenly Canaan. It is called a rest. It is called 
an inheritance. A\'hat blessed descriptions these 
are ! We could want no better. 

This wilderness of sin is a land of weariness. 
The way is hard, the mountains to climb are 
high. The rocks which cut our feet are many. 
The loads which we carry cause so often faint- 
ing', almost death. There is no rest here. We 
Iiave temiKjrary resting places where we may sleep 
ami refresh ourselves. But the day comes, and 
its work, its weariness. Even in our religious 
lives and work, we experience the same fatigue, 
^ve are exhorted not to grow weary in well doing, 
n<»t to faint by the way, wliy? Because we are 
in a land of weariness, of toil, of exhaustion! 

"To him that overcometli. I will give a crown 
•of life. To him that overcometh. I will make a 
pillar in the tem]ile of my (lod and they shall go 
•out no more." Our abiding ])lace there will be 
as permanent as the pillars of the temple. We 
cannot be removed. Surely we will not want 
to go out any more. We will be satisfied to dwell 
in the temple of God forever. Then it is called 
-an inheritance. Our children inherit our pos- 
sessions. There is no law to prevent them from 
•coming into what has belonged to us. It is their 
own when we leave it by every right of human 
and Divine law. 



SEKMON8 217 



11. ( )iir Saviour is the faithful witness of this 
promised land. 

Moses, ycHi renieniher, sent spies into Canaan 
that they might hrinj; hack a report of the land 
which Ciod had jjromised to Ahraham and his 
descendants. These spies returned. Only two, 
Caieb and Joshua, brought back a good report. 
The majority report was very discouraging in- 
deed, so much s(i, that the Israelites turned back 
again. 

There are many in this w^orld who have a 1>ad 
report of the Promised Land which the text 
tells us, is to be our rest and our inheritance. 
Will you listen to them? If so, you will also 
turn back and continue wandering in the wilder- 
ness of sin. Do not forget that Satan is one of 
these spies. He will tell you false things re- 
garding your religion, your 1)rethren, your 
Saviour, your ( iod and Heaven. This is his 
l)usiness. lie is always at it. You find many 
Christians who do not think much about Heaven, 
they consider it a dream, they contend that this 
is their Heaven, hence they place little value on 
all the reports in the l>ible concerning this land. 
r>ut we have a true witness, our Joshua, our 
Jesus. He came from that country. He knows 
its hills and dells, its clime, its fruits, its joys, 
its eternal delights. He has left us His report. 



218 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

It is absolutely true. He has seen and heard and 
tasted and He speaks as a true witness. He said 
to His disciples on the eve of His departure, "I 
go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, 
there ye may be also. In my Father's house are 
many mansions, if it were not so I would have 
told you." "If ye believe in God, believe also in 
me." 

God liberated His people from Egypt. He 
raised the iron heel of oppression from the necks 
of His people. He led them forth. He brought 
them into Canaan. His omniscience guided 
them. His omnipresence was ever with them. 
He brought them to an end of the toil, labor, 
dust, pains, weariness of the wilderness jour- 
ney. The same God is leading us to a much 
better country. In this country there are no 
enemies, ■ as there were in Canaan. No battles 
will be fought, no sickness will be endured, no 
trials to pass through, no fading sunsets and fol- 
lowing dark nights, no losses, no crosses, for 
"All the former things are passed away, behold, 
I make all things new." 

Jesus says, "I am the livirTg bread of which if 
any man eat, he shall nevermore hunger." He 
has broken down the middle wall or partition, so 
that we can enter into the very presence of God. 
Paul speaks of His work when he says, "By 



SERMONS 219 



whom also we have access by faith into this 
grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope 
of the glor\' of God." Yes, the glory of God, 
that glory which shall be reflected from our 
hearts and faces when we stand complete before 
God. John says, "It doth not appear what we 
shall be, but we know that when He shall ap- 
pear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him 
as He is. And every one that hath this hope in 
him, purifieth himself even as He is pure." We 
shall be like Him ! These are not misty descrip- 
tions of our rest and inheritance! They are real 
photographs. We need not doubt, we need not 
fear. It doth not appear what we shall be, but' 
in that beautiful habitation of the soul, we will 
be more beautiful than the beautiful home which 
God has prepared. 

HI. But this rest and inheritance will be the 
reward of the faithful. 

We should not deceive ourselves for not every 
one will enter. There are many in this world 
who confidently expect to enter this Heavenly 
Canaan, but they have no passport. If you 
were to take a trip through Europe and Asia, 
it would be necessary for you to procure from 
the proper officials of this country a passport, 
for without this you would not be permitted to 
go through these countries. You would be 



orX OP THE BKIARS 



looked upon as some kiii<l of an oncniy. The 
passports to Heaven are i^oodness and faithful- 
ness. Not the goodness, however, which this 
world creates and loves and prizes. Christ said 
to the young- nobleman who came to Him and 
wanted to know what gcxxl thing He could do 
t(t enter the kingdom of Heaven, "Why callest 
thou me good, there is none good but Ciod." 
This young- man said that he had kept all the 
commandments from his youth up. now if he 
ha<i done that and we have no reason to doubt it, 
for Christ looked on him and loved him, then 
this young man was really good as this world 
calls goodness ; but mark you he did not enter 
the Kingd(»m of God," for he went away very 
sorrowful, for he was very rich. Oh ! he wa.s 
very rich ! 

He had his own little lieaven, he had his own 
little bundle of goodness, he had his own pass- 
]x>rt, but the.se did not suffice, for the Kingdom 
of God. These were of no value in this King- 
dom. 

I was born in a slave state. \\'hen I was a 
little boy, my mother being very jioor, sent me 
•out on a very cold day to the river bank to gather 
up a bundle of wood. 1 gathered up the wood 
and tied it into a bundle and placerl it on my 
head. I started home. It was a large bundle 



SKHMONS 221 



and grew very lieav)- as I walketl aloni^'. It was 
painful to my head and 1 became tired. I stag- 
gered under tlie burden. I thought that I could 
not reach the house, but I kept on. At last I 
got home and almost fainted. But what a re- 
lief it was to me and what a comfort it became 
to my mother. As we sat that night by the 
crackling fire, J thought, well it was worth all 
it cost me. The pleasure it gave my mother, 
the family, and satisfaction it gave me to know 
that I had done this and all were now enjoying 
it. was my reward, my rest. But mark you, it 
was the reward of goodness and faithfulness. 
If I had been a disobedient boy, would I have 
had that reward? Would I have had that en- 
joyment? Would I have had the approval and 
the love of my mother? Never, never! So it is 
with us today. We must carry our burdens, and 
the burdens of others. ^Ve have always a double 
load on our shoulders, this makes it doubly 
heavy. Sometimes we nearly faint un<ler it. the 
road seems to have no end. we are almost tempt- 
ed to throw down the load, but can we? If we 
really desire to enter that beautiful city beyond 
the river of death, the load which God has given 
us, must be carried to the very end. We can 
drop that load when we come to the river, when 
the death angel tells us that it is enough and 
that our Father wants us to come home. 



Ol'T OP THE BKIAKS 



You are to serve your brother-man, you are 
to love him, to pray .for him, and to love and 
pray for your enemies. This is the load, this 
is the work that is to be done ! Without the 
cross there is no crown, without the weights 
there are no wings, without the prayers there 
will be no praises! "Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things. 
Enter thou into the joy of thy lord." This is 
the welcome plaudit. • Do you long to hear that 
pkudit? Then be faithful today and tomorrow 
and throughout life. 

IV. This place is called rest. 

After the victory there is peace. After the 
labor there is rest. After -the pain there is 
pleasure. This world is not our abiding place, 
our peace-place. As long as man lives on the 
earth he has various inducements to sin. Enemies 
within and without are continually organizing 
against him. Satan is seeking to devour him 
with lust and sin. He too often, alas ! renounces 
liis allegiance to his God, he forgets his Saviour, 
he turns away from the practice of his religion. 
Worldly pleasures allure him, they deceive him, 
they intoxicate. Ten thousand are the ways of 
this world to lead the humble pilgrim astray. 
The Israelites wandered in the Wilderness forty 



,SIi:KMONtS 2i!3 

days, but it was only a seven days march from 
Egypt to Canaan.- Why did they wander? Be- 
cause they sinned. The flesh is lusting against 
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. When 
we would do good evil is present with us. What 
a mighty conflict this life of wandering is! 

But blessed be God there are no haunts of 
innocent ( ?) amusement to entice you from pure 
holiness, in Heaven ! No dens to rob men and 
women of their virtue, no pit-falls of saloons 
and gambling- hells to lead astray the holy in- 
habitants of that land of rest, none of these things 
are to be found there! The ung'odly rich man, 
the- oppressor o.f the poor, the robber, the thief, 
these are all cast into the lake where the worm 
dieth not and the fire is not quenched. There 
is the place of our Eternal Rest. It is a moun- 
tain where heavenly pastures grow and the rivers 
of life gently flow. It is here that we shall know 
as we are known. Here ignorance is forever 
banished and we see face to face. God help us 
to enter this rest and to obtain this inheritance. 



Our Legacy. 

Peace I leave with you. — John 14 ■.2'j. 

Dear Brethren, in entering upon the work of 
this district two years ago I found that the ship 
had sprung a leak, the sails were furled, many 



224 OrT OF THK BRIARS 

of the crew had deserted the ship and left her to 
the mercy of the waves. There seemed to he a 
heavy cloud over the church, her banners had 
been trailing in the dust. I look back and almost 
shudder and wonder what w^ould have been the 
fate of the church had things drifted on as I 
found them. I wonder if there were any here 
who at that time would have believed our report 
and to whom the arm of the Lord would have 
been revealed. I ask the (juestion now, shall the 
church in Trenton sink, shall her doors be closed, 
shall her banner be dust covered? No, never, 
so long as GckI says "Thou shalt live."" So like 
Paul at Athens I take courage and preach the 
(k)spel to you that your strength may increase 
and your faith grow stronger. 

Uro. Joseph I^ng was the first man I saw, to 
whom I delivered my message. He said go 
ahead, my son, sound the trumpet and we will 
rally to the standard though the host of hell 
surround us. I accepted the situation, .seeing 
that there was a great field of usefulness before 
me. I .saw and felt my inability to do any good 
or to be of any service to the church unless God 
was with me. So I consecrated myself anew to 
God and made a complete surrender. My own 
capabilities united with yours, we brought our 
forces into line and betran the battle which you 



SEKAfONS 225 

have fought so nobly and bravely against every 
obstacle. You have been faithful soldiers, and 
may be called veterans in the cause of Christ. 
The enemy has been many times defeated and 
many victories have been won and the cause has 
been greatly advanced, but the time of our 
separation is drawing nigh, our communions will 
soon cease, they have been very sweet and pre- 
cious to me, very helpful, your kindness has been 
like the bud on the tree continually swelling, and 
blossoming for my own pleasure and profit. Like 
David, we have cried from the bottom of our 
hearts, How long, O Lord, How long shall the 
wicked reign? Save thy people, bless thine in- 
heritance, feed and lift them up for ever. You 
have proven your loyalty to the church at large, 
your efificiency in the church here, I commend 
your integrity, your faithfulness. Your warm 
hearts have beat continually for the success of 
the church during this pastorate. 

The old heroes have gone home to their re- 
ward. Their seats are vacant, their work is com- 
plete but we have entered into their labors and 
their memory is still precious among us. They 
are still with us in spirit, they are looking down 
from the battlements of glory and are witness- 
ing our race here below. They have been de- 
scribed as a cloud of witnesses. Therefore we 



226 OUT OF THE BKIAR8 

are to lay aside every weight and the sin that 
(loth so easily beset us and run with patience 
the race that is set before us. Their skill and 
bravery we should imitate, their example we 
should copy, their life of service we should re- 
lieve. Oh ! Could many of those old warriors 
awake from their graves and revisit old Mt. 
Zion and stand on her battleground, to tell us 
of the contests through which they had passed 
and to show us the scars which they had received 
while fighting the battle of the Lord, how often 
they have witnessed the going- and coming of 
ministers, having listened to their sad farewells, 
I am sure that we would take courage today and 
rejoice that we are a part of that grand pro- 
cession, some of which are now in glory, some 
of which are crossing and some of which are 
still on this side. These old veterans of glory 
are not here to shake our hands ; they have risen 
from the bloody battlefield of earth to the sun 
lit hills of eternity and have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
Some that I met two years ago are not here 
tonight to shake our hands, to be with us in this 
farewell exercise, where are they ? Where is 
father Crusen and Sister Layten, Tolson, Phin- 
ley, Reley and Rachel Conover. Young men, I 
ask you tonight where is Enoch Limehouse, Jim- 



SERMONS 227 



mie \'i"oom and others of your cpmpanions? 
Parents and Sabbath School teachers, I ask you 
where are the Scotts, the Sees and Lily Wright 
and others whom I met here two years ago? 
They have gone down to the grave, they are 
mouldering in their graves. But this shattered 
Mt. Zion church is the same now as then, a few 
pillars are left. Brothers Long, Johnson, Fisher, 
Jones, Ward, Ayers, Charna, Sisters Long, 
Ward, Ferine, Flail, Scroden, Ilutchens. Lewus, 
Harriet, Charmer, and a host of others, we have 
stood together through these years and are one 
tonight in spirit and in truth. Our spirits have 
shared each other's burdens, each other's 
sorrows, we have mingled our tears. 

Your Christian advice, tender care, loyal 
friendship, all these have helped me on my way 
to the better land. You have performed your 
part well, a uniform desire to contribute to the 
harmony of all. Your zeal for the growth of 
the church when it seemed to be dying, your 
constant watching for its highest welfare, have 
often caused me to say, "I was glad when they 
said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord." 
Although we separate here in sorrow we will 
meet in a place where sorrow is unknown. Do 
you promise to meet me there? March on, ye 
Soldiers of the Cross, be not afraid, God is your 



228 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

helper, He will not desert you ! Keep your eyes 
on the city whose builder and maker is God. 
Do not grow weary in well-doing nor faint by 
the way. 

Christ said, My peace I leave with you. I can 
say my blessings I leave with you. Let us pray 
for each other and look forward to the time 
when we shall meet to part no more. Farewell I 



^ 



KttukB mh Ol0utrtlnrtt0U0 



Artirlrs nnh OInntrtbitttnns 



An Echo to the Manager's Call. 

Mr. Editor: In your issue of June 21, 1877, an 
article appears, emanating from the business 
manager, indicating trouble ahead. He says that 
from the very fact of the editor receiving two 
letters to his one, and the supporters of our pub- 
lishing department placing the major portions of 
their communications on the wrong current, the 
most pernicious e-ft'ect is designed to flow through 
the stream of intellectual knowledge gleaned 
from the columns of the Christian Recorder. 

I have only to ask my brethren, Can we, as pil- 
lars of the porch that leads to the great temple 
of African Methodism, sit still on our easy chair 
and hear such powerful peals of thunder ringing 
through our ears, constantly coming from the 
subverting clouds now overhanging our man- 
ager's head ? 

Let us burst loose the bands of oppression, 
open tbt prison door and set the captive free. 
Give the manager . a fair start in the race, and 
then if he die (as he says the death warrant has 
been served on others who had charge of tlie 
concern), let us bury him in a recreant's grave. 
231 



232 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

As to the department being" whittled away by the 
ministry, I would like to ask, ]\Ir. Editor, who is 
responsible for that? Is there not a prescribed 
mode of bringing- these would-be men to justice? 
These vipers that creep through the money till of 
all our departments and from their atrocious 
dereliction or their villainous designs to defraud 
the connection out of what is rightfully due it? 
These things are actually undermining the foun- 
dation of our Church. Put them between the 
upper and lower millstones and grind them as 
fine as powder. Do not let us all sutTer from the 
efifect of the same blow. The blow the Doctor 
struck has shocked the connection like a mighty 
earthquake. Now the question goes from every 
loyal fort along the line, "Who are these whit- 
tlers?" Again, the manager says there is a wolf 
howling about the door of his sanctum, and that 
unless there be sufficient food to satisfy his de- 
mands, at no distant date there will be a burst up. 
I again ask. Cannot this eternal howling be 
stopped ? 

Now, the manager says that our articles of 
commendation and sweet pats on the shoulder, 
telling him to go ahead with the engine without 
anything to propel it, does not amount to much. 
He wants action- — noble, sublime, Godlike action 
— such as will place him on the road to success. 
Then, brethren, let us act. According- to the re- 



AKTICLKS AM) C< )XT1UBUTI( »NS •i:i;J 

port made at the General Conference of 1872, we 
iiave three hundred thousand members, seven 
thousand preachers in our connection. Let a Sab- 
])ath be set apart and let it be universally known 
throughout the Church, and one-fourth of a dol- 
lar be collected from each member. This would 
give us the nice little sum of $75,000. Say that 
the preachers give one dollar each, including 
bishops, managers, editors and all others, which 
would make a total of $82,000. Would not this 
stop the howling- wolf and save the department? 
The echo is, Yes ! Then, brethren, let us awake 
from our sleep. Call the forces to the front, 
wheel into line, hre on the enemy, and the victory 
is ours. I will guarantee one-fourth of a dollar 
from each one of my members, and not only one 
■dollar from myself, but five, at whatever time 
may be mentioned as a day for this purpose in the 
interests of the Book Concern. 

A. H. NEWTON. 
Algiers, La., July, 1877. 



The Race Problem Solved at Asbury Park. 

For the Christian Recorder. 

New Brunswick, N. ]., August 2, 1890. 
^Ir. Editor. 

Sir : As a native of the "Old North State" my- 
self, it is but natural that I should feel some pride 



234 OUT OF THE BRIAKS 

in every honor or mark of respect paid to her 
honored sons; and yet, sir, when I see metropoh- 
tan papers, whose pohtics are not very favorable 
to our race, teeming with praise of the speeches 
made, with some very remarkable quotations of 
opposition to the "Force Bill," or apologizing for 
certain reasons why it should not become a law ; 
when I see certain gentlemen denied by those in 
authority not especially committed to pur side of 
public questions regarding our interest, it is but 
natural that some of us should become alarmed 
lest these honors are received and bestowed at 
the terrible expense of compromising the rights 
of our race. 

We are forced to believe that President Gran- 
dison must have committed himself with all the 
force of his eloquence on the beach at the park 
to thirty thousand people in favor of the Force 
Bill. We are also led to believe that our popular 
friend Dr. Sampson was very conservative in his 
Fourth of July speech. But now comes out one 
of the leading illustrated journals with all the 
pictures of these orators of the Fourth at the 
park, and the Doctor is made to say if a colored 
man is discriminated against or in any w^ay perse- 
cuted in regard to his rights, that it ought to 
stimulate him to greater effort to make himself 
more worthy, and to not only make himself the 
equal, but the superior of the other men. With 



ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS 235 

other compromising remarks, and after several 
highly pleasing- speeches on the beach to the mul- 
titudes from the hotels, it is said that the Doctor 
and founder, Bradley, repaired to the dining 
rooms of the different hotels and told the colored 
help when and where they might be allowed to 
bathe. 

Was this arrangement made by the Doctor 
with Mr. Bradley for the colored people? Will 
these two North Carolinians answer this ques- 
tion? Were they paid one hundred dollars for 
these speeches, and were they properly quoted 
in the New York World? I mean President 
Grandison, of Bennett College, as to his views 
on the Force Bill delivered at the park or else- 
where, and also Dr. Sampson on the Race Prob- 
lem, delivered on the grand stand on the Fourth 
of July at the park. I understand that my old 
friend did say that a Negro's occupation should 
not be above that of a servant, for he must know 
well how to discharge the duties belonging to 
this sphere before he is able to meet the more 
responsible duties of life. I ask the Doctor if 
this is all true. 

Yours respectfully, 

A. H. NEWTON. 
31 French Street, New Brunswick, N. J. 



230" OUT OF THE BRIARS 

Intemperance. 

By Miss Ada A. Newton. 

Intemperance is a fatal evil. What are felons, 
murderers and thieves but men who began drink- 
ing- but moderately, just for fashion or to see 
how it tasted ? From drinking moderately they 
go on taking a little more each time, until finally 
they become confirmed drunkards. How com- 
mon it is to hear a wife say, Ah! He was a good 
husband before he began drinking. There was 
nothing he thought too good for me. How we 
pity the drunkard's wife and children ! The little 
ones are made to suffer for the doings of their 
father, for God says that "the iniquities of the 
fathers are visited upon the children unto the 
third and fourth generation, while His mercy is 
shown unto thousands that love Him and keep 
His commandments." How careful, then, should 
all be to guard against this evil. The cup that 
has the glow of ruby at last biteth like a serpent 
and stingeth like an adder. 

Let us give an illustration that all may see the 
course of this sin. Here is a rich man who has 
a son ; he indulges him beyond measure ; he 
teaches him in youth to drink wine. At first he 
makes a wry face and tells his father that he 
does not like it and cannot drink it. His father 
•scorns and ridicules the idea, and tells him that 



ARTICLES AND CONTIJ II5UTI( »NS i' '.7 

unless he drinks sonic he will never become a 
man. So the little fellow drinks because it is his 
father's desire and not his own. He soon ac- 
quires a thirst for the poisonous cup, and when 
he comes to manhood's estate he drinks often and 
freely. At last he drinks too much and becomes 
intoxicated — yes, intoxicated ! This is his first 
step to ruin; the habit has been formed. His 
father is now much mortified. He threatens to 
disinherit him if he does not stop drinking, but 
it is too late. The father has laid the foundation 
and the son has built on it, and neither of them 
is now able to undo what has been done and fixed 
into a habit. His mother begs him to never again 
touch the deadly drug. For her sake he prom- 
ises and takes the pledge. There is great rejoic- 
ing now. His father, mother, friends, all rejoice 
at the reclamation ; the son has reformed ! Yes. 
he has reformed. His eyes lose their redness 
and become bright and lustrous. He attends 
diligently to his business. After a while he mar- 
ries. Then the rejoicing is universal. All delight 
at the great reformation. But alas ! how frail is 
human nature. Soon after his marriage he meets 
at the tavern his old chums. He 'has perfect 
confidence in himself. He knows he Avill not 
drink again. His pride asserts itself. His old 
companions are gleeful and congenial; they ask 
him to drink. He pays no attention to them. 



238 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

Then they sneer, they ridicule, they appeal to his 
manhood, they accuse him of being tied to his 
wife's apron strings. To prove to them that he 
is not all that they declare, he takes one drink, 
then another and another, and soon he is beastly 
drunk. Then they kick him out. His wife 
watches for him, then she watches over him, and 
he does not return, so it seems. He is now de- 
tained on business ; he has an engagement at the 
club, at the lodge. How little does she know 
how soon she is to be bowed down and broken 
under grief! She watches. It is midnight; she 
meets him at the door with a glad heart ; the 
sight is heart-sickening. She reels and faints. 
He is fearfully intoxicated ! When he is able to 
reason, she reasons with him, but in vain. Down, 
down he goes from one step to another, until 
from a large mansion he brings her to live in a 
cellar. Who is that grinning monster the boys 
are pelting in the street? And who is that ema- 
ciated creature entreating the boys to let the mis- 
erable wretch whom she calls her husband go 
home? The once noble husband and the once 
1)eautiful wife! What has brought them so low? 
AMiat has caused her misery, her anguish ? Rum, 
rum, rum; nothing but the demon RUM! 

Oh. young man, if you only knew the harm 
tliat the social glass does you, the misery that it 
brings, the death that follows, you would cast 



ARTICLES AND CONTKIBl TIONS 239 

away the poison and turn froni it now, before it 
is eternally to late. "Touch not, taste not the un- 
clean thing, for wine is a mocker and strong- 
drink is raging." 
Algiers, La. 



From Arkansas. 

For the Christian Recorder. 

Mr. Editor : You have not heard from us for 
several months, not because we have lost inter- 
est, for we have always stood among the active 
workers of the Church, but we have been very 
busy. The last time we wrote you from the 
South we were in the vState of Tennessee. 

In the month of October last year Bishop 
Brown ordered us to strike our tent and move 
to Arkansas. With the knapsack of faith and the 
musket of truth we came and engaged in the 
contest, taking charge of Little Rock. 

The Little Rock Conference is composed of 
some of the noblest and most energetic men in 
the Church. They work, sing and fight against 
Satan like men of war, determined to conquer 
although they die in the battle. Elder J. T. Jen- 
ifer, so well known throughout our widespread 
connection as a pioneer of African Methodism, 
erected a new church edifice at Little Rock, a 



240 OUT OP THE CUIARS 

monument that can never be forgotten, and to 
be admired by unborn generations. Bishop 
Brown and J- F. A. Sisson, P. E., contributed 
their share towards the construction of this 
model of beauty. H. H. Petigrew, P. E., John 
A. Jones, S. A. Patten and R. A. Sinquefield are 
the pioneers of African Methodism in this State,, 
and their labors have been given entirely to the 
Christian Church. Their affectionate and kind- 
hearted spirits draw every one near to them in 
the fullest confidence, and none can but love and 
cherish them. 

The Conference is divided into eleven districts 
and is cared for by good and faithful presiding 
elders who are not afraid of the truth, though 
dark and gloomy clouds oppose them on every 
hand. We have several churches in course of 
construction in this vState which will be orna- 
ments when completed. 

In Little Rock the work is in a prosperous con- 
dition. We are preparing to hold the Confer- 
ence on the 9th of November, 1876. Bishop T, 
M. Ward is now with us on his way to the South 
Arkansas Conference. Our church is not yet 
completed, and we are about four thousand dol- 
lars in debt; but, thank the Lord, we were suc- 
cessful in paying off $1200 this year. We have 
483 members, who say that they are determined 
to succeed, ^^'e have 229 scholars in the Sunday 



AKTrCLES AND CoNTRI lilTK >NS ii41 

School and 25 officers and teachers. We have 
not done mucli for the Recorder, but we intend 
to fall into line. "Hold the fort, for we are com- 
ing!" ("Yes, Init hurry up!") 

King Cotton has a powerful influence in this 
State, and the same is true of another king — 
Alcohol. There are 113 rum shops in Pine Bluff 
and 108 in Little Rock. Thousands of people 
are inquiring for the byways to hell, and, com- 
paratively speaking, very few are inquiring tlie 
way to heaven. Over $r, 000,000 are spent in 
this State annually for rum and tobacco. 

On September 25th we visited the Conference 
of Tennessee, held in Pulaski, w^iere we met 
many smiling faces and hearts and enjoyed a 
hearty shake of many hands. 

.\. H. NEWTON. 

Little Rock. Ark., October 18. 1876. 



Algiers, La. 

Algiers is situated on the north bank of the 
Mississippi River, about one hundred miles dis- 
tant from the Gulf. It is connected with New 
Orleans by ferry boats, which run every tive or 
ten minutes. There is not much enterprise here, 
as all the business is done in the city. It is not a 
separate parish from the city, as one mayor con- 
trols the affairs of 1x)th places. Beelzebub has 



1*42 OUT OP THE BRIARS 

his headquarters here, and his court and his or- 
ders take the premium. The Sabbath is not re- 
spected. Mechanics labor and stevedores flock 
and flutter about the ships. You will find human 
beings as thick on the ballroom floor on Sundaj^ 
as fleas on a dog's head. And this is only a sub- 
stitute for the wickedness indulged in here on 
the Sabbath. But our Church is progressing. 
We have just had a glorious revival. Our forces 
were drawn up in line in pitched battle with the 
devil and artillery of hell. After a heavy conflict 
for several weeks the battle subsided. When the 
smoke was over we picked up thirty souls hap- 
pily converted to God. Bishop Ward was with 
us about eight weeks ago. He organized a new 
mission work in this city. He threw two or three 
bombshells against the forces of Catholicism, 
crippled, wounded and captured several of their 
troops, and moved on down the line, leaving the 
boys to push the battle to the gate. 

A. H. NEWTON. 
June 21, 1877, 



Word from Algiers, La. 

For the Christian Recorder. 

Mr. Editor: Elder A. H. Newton has charge 
of the branch of African Methodism of Algiers, 
La. When Elder Newton arrived in Algiers he 



AHT[CLE8 AND CONTRIBUTIONS -24.? 

found the church in an ahnost hopeless condi- 
tion, there being- but ten members belonging to 
the fold, and as far as Sabbath School was con- 
cerned, they hardly knew what it meant. The 
majority of the people of color are Catholics. 
There are three Catholic churches to one Meth- 
odist church, therefore he had to labor under 
great disadvantages, but with King Jesus as his 
Captain, the Bible as his shield, he fought the 
battle l>ravely and gained the victory. Our 
church now is in a prosperous condition. We 
are doing a good work. Instead of ten members" 
we have ten times ten, and they are coming- to 
the fold every day. We have the finest Sabbath 
School in the State of Louisiana. There are one 
liundred and seventy-five members, and still they 
come. Our superintendent, Prof. J. H. Corbin, 
is alive to our Sabbath School. He is pious, kind 
and educated. The children all love him, and in 
no Sunday School throughout our entire connec- 
tion could you find a better superintendent than 
he. He is also the principal of the colored school 
of Algiers. Our musical director, Prof. S. W. 
Otts, is also one of our bright stars. He makes 
the walls of Zion ring with melodies from the 
"Gospel Songs." Miss O. B. Flowers, the assis- 
tant princial of the colored school of this city 
is also a noble worker in our Sabbath School. As 
a teacher she is interesting, and she is also the 



244 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

embodiment of Christian forbearance. We have 
a very intelligent corps of teachers, and, alto- 
gether, our school is progressing quite rapidly. 
When Elder Newton came to Algiers there was 
not a book in the Sabbath School library, not 
even a Testament; but with the help of God -we 
have been enabled to get Testaments, Bibles and 
Catechisms, and we also have an organ. All this 
has been done in three months. In another three 
months we have hopes of as much more being 
accomplished. Our agent for the Christian Re- 
corder is Mrs. Lula L. Newton. She sells as many 
papers as are sent her, and could sell as many 
more if she had them. The people take quite an 
interest in the paper, simply l>ecause it is edited 
and published by our <^wn color. 

For the last week we have had a practical ef- 
fort, six souls have been added to our number 
and we have prospects of as many more. Al- 
giers bids fair of becoming one of the strong- 
holds of the connection. In the city of N^ew Or- 
leans, Bishop Ward (blessings on his venerable 
head!) has organized a new mission, which the 
elder in charge — Elder Cargile — witli the help 
of the Lord and good management, is making a 
good charge. The people in this city are very 
wicked, some of them, although in a Christian 
land and among Christian people, are worse than 
heathen. Thev have never read the l>iblc. The 



AKTIOLK.S AND < ONTRIIJUTIONS lM.i 

Bishop, knowing" this, organized the mission in 
the most wicked portion of the city, and it is pro- 
gressing finely. 

ADA A. NEWTON. 

April 4, 1877. 



Word from Algiers, La. 
For the Christian Recorder. 

Mr. Editor: I am glad to say that our church 
is gaining ground. Christians are a unit in this 
place in laboring for the building of Christ's king- 
dom. Meetings are ])eing held everywhere, with 
very marked results. Elder James Madison is 
carrying on a great work in St. James. He seems 
to be determined that every valley shall be filled 
and every hill made low. I think that he is the 
right man in the right place. The Elder visited 
my Sabbath School and addressed the children. 
He expressed himself as highly pleased with the 
progress of the church and school. 

Elder I^zarus Gardiner, of St. Peter's Chapel, 
is scattering Ciospel seed and contending against 
the assaults of sin, at the head of noble-hearted 
workers for the success of African Methodism in 
this State. They have paid five hundred dollars 
c^n their new church and have arranged for the 
])a\nient of another five hundred when due. The 



246 OUT OP^ THE BRIARS 

Elder is up and a-doing. God speed him on his 
journey ! 

Dr. George W. Bryant is sounding the Gospel 
trumpet from the battlements of Zion at the 
Union Bethel. He is master of the situation. If 
our Gospel be hid, it is hid unto them that are 
lost. The Baptist church is also doing a great 
work in this place, I was at a union meeting at 
the Rev. James Chaig's church, a Baptist brother, 
and the Spirit of the Lord God filled the house 
It was densely packed. The conference of glad 
voices giving praise to God was a heaven below. 
Brother Benjamin Buchannon also held a union 
meeting last Sabbath, which was a complete suc- 
cess. Fully three thousand people were present. 
The church and the yard were literally packed. 
God bless these brethren ! May they live long 
and continue as instruments in the hands of God, 
enemies to ignorance and friends to holiness ! J. 
H. Scie, P. E., is on the scout, I presume, al- 
though I have not heard from Elder Thomas. 
And Elder Burch I can give no account of, as I 
have no news from their district since Confer- 
ence. 

A. H. NtWTON. 

June 5. 1877. 



ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS 241 



Dedication of Macedonia Church. 

The Rev. A. H. Newton was ably assisted in 
the service of dedicating the beautiful new Mace- 
donia Church in Camden, N. J., last Sunday. 
The dedicatory service was conducted and ser- 
mon preached by Bishop A. W. Wayman, D.D., 
at II A. M. In the afternoon the editor of the 
Christian Recorder and at night Macedonia's ex- 
pastor, Rev. W. H. Yocum, B.D., preached. 
There were present the Rev. G. A. Mills, Rev. J. 
W. Cooper, T. N. Allen, S. B. WilUams, G. S, 
Smith, T. Gould, L. J. Coppin, B. T. Tanner, 
D.D., J. H. Bean, J. W. Becket, D.D., W: Rice 
and G. M. Witten, of our church, and S. P. 
Smith, of the Congregational Church of Knox- 
ville, Tenn. There may have been other minis- 
ters present. In the afternoon the audience of 
the main audience room overflowed, filling the 
basement, where they were addressed in a good 
sermon deliverd by Rev. G. M . Witten. The col- 
lection of the day amounted to over $900. Mace- 
donia has been partly described while in course 
of erection. It is of brick, the windows are of 
beautiful stained glass, the floor is entirely car- 
peted, the pulpit is furnished, the gas jets, the 
excellent finish of the entire building within and 
without command our congratulation to our 
Brother Newton and constituents, who with him, 



248 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

as well as with his predecessor, Elder Yocum, 
under whose pastorate the building was started, 
erected and enclosed, have been faithful. 
October 24, 1886. 



Another Account of the Dedication of the 
Macedonia Church. 

For the Christian Recorder. 

Mr. Editor : In the midst of the ranges of 
thought and sentiment, and ^^ hile the busy world 
was moving" on in the grand march of improve- 
ment, the Church of the Living God is unfolding 
and developing everywhere The Kingdom of 
Christ is gaining territory in the marts of men. 

Sunday, October 24th, the Macedonia A. M. 
E. Church of Camden, N. J., was dedicated with 
imposing services. Indeed, I venture the asser- 
tion that it was the grandest occasion in the his- 
tory of the congregation. More than forty years 
ago a few fathers and mothers, African Aletho- 
dists, concluded to build the house to God in that 
city, all of whom have finished their well-begun 
work, and have fallen asleep; but Brother Wil- 
son, Father Sample, Mother Quinn and Sister 
Hill. The younger men and women, inspired by 
the fathers, took hold where they left ofT and 
have carried forward the work until the third 



ARTICLES AND CONTIII lU TIoNS 24!» 

l)uil(linq' is successfully reared on the same lot ; 
l)Ut tile i^lory of the latter house is greater than 
the fcirnier. The niemhers and congregation 
needed this new church seventeen years before 
it was built. They were losing their congrega- 
tion of young people, their societies were taking 
their start from Old Macedonia until eight other 
churches were built in Camden. With the excep- 
tion of one or two, Macedonia was the poorest. 
Standing two and one-half feet below the grade 
of the street might be seen a small fiat-roof house 
covered with felt, pitch and gravel ; this was the 
A. M. E. church with a g'allery all around it, yet 
some of our al)lest ministers had pastored there. 
After I had labored three years in the city of 
Providence, R. I., in August, Bishop John M. 
r.rown said t(» me, "JJrother Yeocum, we have 
needed a new church in Camden for years, can 
you not go there and Iniild that churcii. You 
will find a good lot of pet)ple. We nmst have a 
cliurch there that will compare with tlie churches 
in Philadelphia or we shall lose all that we have." 
On the 22nd of August I found myself in Cam- 
den, N. J., and it was not long before wc com- 
menced tallying about the new church. Alx)ut 
the last of October our first grand rally netted 
us $575.00; at the last service in the old building 
we raised about $300.00 and soon $1,000.00 were 
in hand. 1'lie ()1<1 churcli was tal<en down and 



260 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

many were fearful that the church would never 
go up again. We took the congregation some dis- 
tance from its stamping ground to what is known 
as "Kaighnsville" and worshipped in our mission 
school-house just in the rear of the A. M, E. Z. 
Church. Here we remained eighteen months 
while the carpenters and masons were working 
on the present noble structure. There were many 
discouragements and trying circumstances con- 
fronting us, but we toiled on trusting in the Lord 
whose work it was. The tribes led on by the 
presidents, Mrs. Anna White, the late Lyda Mc- 
Coy and Mrs. Maggie J. Moseley and Mrs. Liz- 
zie Green, collected money perhaps as they never 
expected. It was simply marvelous. The former, 
if my memory is correct, raised over $500.00 
during my three years pastorate while the build- 
ing was being erected. 

On the first Sunday in December, 1885, we 
went into the basement of the new church com- 
plete. That was an occasion of surprise as well 
as of joy to the members of the congregation. 
For many a Job's comforter had prophesied that 
it would not go up again, while others laughed 
saying, "Aha! Aha!" "Where is their church 
now?" Perhaps some said, "What they do build, 
if a fox go up thereon, it will break down." In 
April, 1885, I was succeeded by the Rev. A. H. 
Newton, who is a successful, energetic pastor. 



ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS 251 



vvho does not sit down or stand still waiting for 
something to turn up in his favor, like some pas- 
tors. But he goes to work with such vim and is 
here and there so much among his members that 
one following him learns that Rev. Newton has 
been there. With this spirit he carried to comple- 
tion this fine and beautiful church. He and his 
members deserve much credit. The church has all 
the modern improvements and many say that it 
is the finest A. M. E. church in New Jersey. I 
do not remember the dimensions but it is a large 
two-story brick building with a cellar below 
where all the heating is done. On entering the 
front door there is a stair-way leading to the 
audience room on the right and on the left. Be- 
fore entering the lecture room there is a fine 
study and lecture and class room with frosted 
windows. The ceiling of the basement is high, 
it is easily ventilated, the windows of the best 
enameled glass. There is no paint on the wood 
work, simply finished in oil, thus retaining the 
natural color of the yellow pine. The audience 
room is large with three isles, one in the center 
and one on each side, with a door at each isle, 
making the exit very easy. There is a large 
gallery across the front, making the seating 
capacity about 550. The windows are the best 
variegated stained glass. In each there is it- 
memorial to Bishop R. H. Cain, the Rev. A. H. 



OUT OP THE BRIARS 



Newton, W. H. Yeocuni and Mr. Perry Wilson, 
the oldest member. The ceiling is very high, 
carved and angled, with two large reflectors 
which give a mellow, beautiful light. Unlike 
many of our churches all the floor is carpeted 
and the fine furniture on the pulpit, together 
with the splendid pipe organ, make an elegant 
finish. 

At 10:30 a. m., after the usual form. Bishop 
A. ^^^ Wayman, D.D., preached one of his noted 
sermons which was well received by the people, 
the text being, "Who is she that looketh fair as 
the morning?" And Rev. B. F. Lee, D.D., 
preached a most elegant, instructive, sermon at 
3 p. m. The congregation was so large that the 
Rev. (r. ^I. \\'itten preached to a crowded base- 
ment also at the same hour. At 7 p. m. your 
humble servant tried to preach from Rev. i:ir, 
'T am Alpha and Omega," the theme being, 
"Christ, the First and the Last." The collection 
was $900.00, ^vhich \vas very good considering 
the circumstances of our people. The visiting 
members present were Dr. B. T. Tanner, Rev. 
J. W. Cooi>er, Rev. G. A. Mills, Rev. S. B. Wil- 
liams, Rev. \Y. A. Rice, Rev. J. H. Bean, Rev. 
J. TL Morgan and Rev. L. J. Coppin. 

Rev. William H. Yeocum, B.D. 
Trenton, Xew Jersey. 



IS^achtttnufi, lEtn 



Eraulutiotta. Etr. 



Little Rock, Ark. 

Whereas, The Rev. A. H. Newton, since his 
advent in our midst as pastor of Bethel A. M. E. 
Church and subsequently, became superintendent 
of our Sabbath School, demonstrating a great 
love for the Sabbath School and zealously desi- 
rous of promoting its complete success as a place 
of reform and education for the young, has ar- 
dently labored to extend its usefulness and sound 
religious and moral teachings in the minds of our 
youthful members, has striven to lead the young 
to religious devotion, has spared no pains to 
cause the officers and teachers to imbibe the same 
zeal, and, being a devotee to music, has caused 
its uplifting influence to flow among us, leading 
our voices to leap forth in joyous strains in ado- 
ration to our King of kings, and to promote a 
higher intellectual and spiritual standard among 
officers, members and scholars, and has sown the 
seed that will bring forth an abundant harvest 
wdien his hoary head is laid to rest in its last rest- 
ing place ; therefore be it 

Resolved, i. That the officers and teachers of 
the Bethel A. M. E. S. S. give to Rev. A. H. 



256 OUT OF THK BRIAKS 

Newton a vote of thanks for the expending of 
his time and labors in promoting- our welfare. 

2. That we commend him to his many Chris- 
tian friends for his many deeds of kindness and 
labors of love, for both our temporal and spirit- 
ual good. 

3. That the above preamble and resolutions be 
recorded by our secretary, and a copy be given 
to him. 

H. J. BROWN, 
W. il. SMITH. 

G. ^^^ Oliver, 

Committee. 
November 19, 1876. 



Respecting Rev. A. H. Newton. 

At a meeting of the officers and members of 
the Bethel A. M. E. Church, held in this city in 
]876. the following preamble and resolutions 
were adopted : 

Whereas, lie has served us faithfully for one 
year as pastor of Bethel Station, in this city, and 
labored faithfully and honestly to build up our 
Sabbath School and other organizations placed 
tnider his charge by the General Conference: 
and 

Whereas, He has taken si)ecial i)ains to instill 
into the minds of the voung of the churcli the 



KESO LOT IONS, ETC 



grand and beneficent principles of temperance 
and morality; and 

Whereas, His Christian conduct, scholarly at- 
tainments and liberal views have endeared him 
unto us ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That we, officers and members of 
the Bethel Church, do hereby tender to. him our 
heartfelt thanks for the noble work he has done 
among us, and we will ever pray that the bless- 
ings of Almighty God may rest upon him and 
his family, and aid him in his new work to ac- 
complish good work for the cause of Christ. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be 
presented to Brother Newton, and that they be 
published in the Little Rock daily papers. 

G. W'. OLIVER, Secretary. 

November 18, 1876. 



Macedonia Church Endeavors to Retain Their 
Pastor, 
Camden, N. J, 
To the Presiding Elder and Members of the 
Quarterly Conference of Macedonia A. M. 
E. Church : 
Whereas, The New Jersey Annual Conference 
of the A. M. E. Church will hold its annual ses- 
sion at Trenton April 20; and 

Whereas, Another year's faithful service of 



268 OUT OF THE BRIARS 

our pastor, Rev, A. H. Newton, will expire; and 
Whereas, His Christian deportment and liberal 
views, his gentlemanly and agreeable qualities 
have endeared him to us ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That we, the members of the Mace- 
donia Quarterly Conference, do, for his two years 
of earnest labor in the upbuilding and finishing 
of our church and increasing our membership, 
tender him our heartiest thanks; and 

Resolved, That in this he has our heartiest re- 
gard and the good wishes of the members of the 
Quarterly Conference, and we sincerely hope that 
his future may be as bright and prosperous as 
he may hope or desire, and we also pray that the 
Bishop may return him to us for another year. 

Resolved, That a copy of these minutes be pre- 
sented to Rev. A. H. Newton and be printed in 
the Sentinel and the Tribune. 

Signed in behalf of the Quarterly Conference 
of the Macedonia A, M. E. Church. 

WILLIAM STEVENSON, 
JAMES HURT, 
CHARLES COX, 
EZEKIEL WALLACE, 
GEORGE ROBERTS, 
JAMES BRISCOE. 
Marcli 24, 1887. [ 



RESOLUTIONS, KT(L 259 

Notice. 

Rev. A. H. Newton, pastor of the Bethel A. 
M. E. Church, has been transferred to the Lou- 
isiana Conference. We regret to lose Mr. New- 
ton from this city, as gentlemen of his attain- 
ments are none too plenty in the ranks of the A. 
M. E. ministry. Aside from being liberally edu- 
cated, he has shown a practical Christian spirit 
and work since his residence in this city. He is 
to be succeeded by the Rev. J. R. Jenifer. 



East Camden, N, J. 

At the last Quarterly Conference of the Ho- 
sanna A. M. E. Church the following resolutions 
were ofifered by the Rev, W. W. Chase : 

Whereas, The church has prospered under the 
presiding eldership of Rev. A. H. Newton for 
the past four years ; and 

Whereas, This is his last year and Quarterly 
Conference; be it therefore 

Resolved, That we return to him our grateful 
thanks for the manner in which he has conducted 
the business of the church, and pray that the bless- 
ings of God may rest on his labors ; and 

Whereas, In the appointment of the Rev. F. 
A. Sherman to fill the unexpired term of Rev. 
G. R. Smith has proven a blessing to the church 



2V© OUT OP THK BKIARJS 

and the community ; we pray that he may be suc- 
cessful in preaching the Word of God ; and 

Whereas, He has been zealous and faithful in 
the discharge of his duties, both temporal and 
spiritual; therefore be it 

Resolved, That he has our prayers and best 
wishes for his future success. 

HARRY INGRAM, 
WILLIAM INGRAM, 
DAVID CORSE, 
JOHN TOULKS, 
BENIAMIN INGRAM, 
NATHANIEL INGRAM, 
GARDNER INGRAM, 
HEZEKIAH COMMARGER, 

Church Officers. 
March 14, 1896. 



Resolutions of Respect. 

The Fourth Quarterly Conference of the Mt. 
Zion A. M. E. Church, at its regular session, 
adopted the following resolutions: 

Whereas, The Rev. A. H. Newton, having 
served us as pastor, and as he is near the termi- 
nation of his administration, it is the honor that 
should be given to whom it is due and credit to 
those who justly merit it; therefore be it 

Resolved, By the members of this Quarterly 
(Conference that in the Rev. A. H. Newton we 



ItKSOLUTlONS, ETC^ itfl 

recognize a faithful Gospel minister and ener- 
getic worker in his Master's vineyard; and fur- 
thermore we recognize him as a gentleman whose 
character is irreproachable and whose ministe- 
rial bearing and executive ability commend 
themselves to the judgment of the intelligent; 
and furthermore be it 

Resolved, That we highly appreciate his effi- 
cient management of the temporal, financial and 
spiritual interests of the church, and whose ad- 
ministration of two years has been one of per- 
fect tranquillity and fraternal feeling, one of its 
prominent characteristics; and be it 

Resolved, That in giving him our testimony of 
appreciation we would not forget his companion 
and coadjutor in his ministerial work, and do 
highly esteem her as a Christian lady for her un- 
tiring perseverance and devotion that has char- 
acterized her during her husband's administra- 
tion. 



Mt. Zion A. M. E. Church. 

The quarterly meeting of Mt. Zion Church 
last Sunday was a grand success. The Rev. A. 
H. Newton, the pastor, is very energetic and a 
grand church worker. Rev. Gilbert T. Waters 
preached a noble sermon in the afternoon. The 
Rev. Thomas held the audience spellbound at 



262 OUT OP THE BRIARS 

night. Elder J. H. Morgan consecrated the ele- 
ments and administered the Lord's Supper, with 
the assistance of Elder Thomas. The church 
was crowded afternoon and evening. There were 
many strangers present, who expressed them- 
selves benefited during the day. Mrs. Lulu L. 
Newton left last Monday morning to spend a 
few days in Camden and Philadelphia with old 
friends. Mrs. Ada A. Harris, daughter of Rev. 
A. H. Newton, will spend some time in Atlantic 
City before returning to Raleigh, N. C, Elder 
A. H. Newton has raised $900 since Conference 
for church purposes. The congregation of Mt. 
Zion are well pleased with the appointment of 
the Bishop. The Sabbath School of Mt. Zion 
will give a grand concert in the near future, con- 
ducted by Mrs. Ada A. Harris, for the purpose 
of getting new singing books. The collection at 
Mt. Zion last Sunday was $45.8;5. 

The members of Mt. Zion Church tendered 
their pastor, Rev. A. H. Newton, a nice little 
surprise in honor of the reverend gentleman's 
fiftieth birthday. They had a good time and left 
many substantial tokens of their regard. 



The Obituary of the Rev. William Watson. 
The Rev. William Watson, a member of the 
New Jersey A. M. E. Conference, died at his 
residence in Woodbury, N. J., Tuesday, August 



RESUI.UTIOXS, ETC. 263 

7, 1888. He was one of the oldest preachers of 
the Conference, and was therefore regarded as 
the "Father of the Conference." 

The funeral services were held August 9 at the 
A. M. E. church, Woodbury, N. J. The Rev. J. 
T. Rex preached the sermon, which was very 
impressive, and Rev. A. H. Newton and Rev. 
Johns made very appropriate remarks concern- 
ing the character and usefulness of the deceased. 
Friday, August loth, the body was carried to 
Frankford, Pa., where services were held in the 
church, when eulogies were delivered by Elder 
G. A. Mills, Bishop Turner, Elder J. W. Cooper 
and others. Rev. A. H. Newton read the follow- 
ing resolution : 

Whereas, we realize the fact that we sustain a 
great loss by the decease of our dear brother and 
colaborer in the work of the Master; be it there- 
fore 

Resolved, That it is but a just tribute to the 
memory of our brother who has been taken from 
us to say that in his removal from our midst we 
mourn for one who was in every way worthy of 
our respect and our regard; 

Resolved, That while we bow in humble sub- 
mission to the hand of Divine Providence, and 
while sorrow for the less of a good man, a kind 
shepherd, a faithful and beloved minister, we find 



264 OUT OP THE BRIARS 

consolation in the belief that "it is well wi^h 
him." He fell at his post, and we believe that 
he has triumphantly entered the Haven of Eter- 
nal Rest. 

Resolved, That we also remember the family 
in the hour of affliction and trial, we tenderly 
condole with and devoutly commend them to the 
keeping of Him who looks with pity on the 
widow and fatherless, and that we share with 
them the hope of a reunion in that better land 
where death and separation are forever unknown. 
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be 
presented to the family and printed in the Chris- 
tian Recorder and other papers. 

REV. L T. REX, 

REV. A. H. NEWTON, 

REV. G. M. WITTEN, 

REV. WALTER THOMPSON, 

Committee. 



LODGE NOTICES. 

Past Grand Master P. T. Colding, G. Bailey, 
W. O. Castor, A. H. Newton, Rev. Bean and 
twenty others of the State of New Jersej^ paid 
Prince Hall Lodge, No. lo, a fraternal visit on 
last Wednesday. Short addresses were deliv- 
ered by those present. 



HKSOI.UTION8, KT(.;. .HM> 

Last week we left out the names of the officers - 
elect of the Grand Chapter: S.N. Robinson, M 
E. G. P., P. L. Coldmg, R. D. G.H. P., Camden; 
W. PI. i Jackson, R. E. G. K., Bordentown;'A.,H. 
Mewton, R. E. G. S., Trenton; J. L. Derrick, R 
W.G. Treasurer, Camden; W. F. Powell, ^R.W 
Grand Secretary, Burlington; W.H. Douglas, 
R. W. Dist. Dept., Plainfield. 



Madams Pitts, Daniels, Webb, Hack and New 
ton have been assiduous in their efforts in mak 
ing the fair a success. 



At a meeting of the Damascus Commandery, 
K. T., No. 4, Trenton, the following officers were 
elected: Sir A. PI. Newton, Em. Com.; Sir J. 
Thornton, Gen.; John Seruby, Capt. General. 



Rev. A. H. Newton, Chaplain of the Senate, 
Trenton, N.J. 

Rev. A. H. Newton has been appointed Chap- 
lain of the State Senate, Trentofi, N. J. Thus 
wc creep up. This is a great honor to Rev. New- 
ton, as well as the race. We congratulate: him. 

March aQth-April gd. 



266 OUT OP THE BRIARS . 

Camden, N. J., August 20, 1894. 
The Adjutant-General W. S. Arcory, W. S. U. 
S. A., Washington, D. C 
Dear Sir: Will you please inform me of the 
probable number of troops enlisted during the 
Civil War, those having died from wounds, being 
sick in hospitals, and the number of those killed 
on th*^ battlefield ? 

Aioo please advise me of the cost of the v^^ar, 
how many colored soldiers enlisted, the years they 
enlisted, and the first battle they engaged in. 
Very respectfully yours, 

A. H. NEWTON. 

The following was the reply to the above: 

Address : "Chief of the Record and Pension Office, 
War Department, Washington, D. C." 

RECORD AND PENSION OFFICE, 
War Department, 
Washington, August 24, 1894. 
Respectfully returned to 

Mr. A. H. Newton, 332 Washington St., Camden, 
N.J. 

Inviting attention to the accompanying printed 
statement showing the number of troops furnished 
by the several States and Territories under the dif- 
ferent calls by the President, including the number 
of colored troops. 

According to the latest official compilation, 67,058 
officers and men were killed in action, and 292,470 
died of wounds or disease during the war. 



RESOLUTIONS, ETC. 267 

According to a statement made by the Secretary 
of the Treasury on June ro, 1880, "the expenditures 
of the gcverr.n ent en acccunt of the war of the 
rebellion from July i, 1861 to June 30, 1879," in- 
cluding interest on the public debt, "aggregated $6,- 
189,929,908.58." The amount expended since the 
latter date is not shown by any statistics filed in 
this Department. 

The first authorized enlistment of U. S. colored 
troops during the war of the rebellion was made in 
the State of Louisiana in 1862. No detailed in- 
formation as to the organization and service of col- 
ored troops can readily be furnished from data now 

accessible. 

(one enclosure) 
By authority of the Secretary of War: 

F. C. AlNSWORTH, 

Colonel, U. S. Army, Chief of Office. 
Per 



The Legal Form of Apprenticeship Used in the 
Case of A. H. Newton. 

State of North CaroHna, 
County of Craven, 
ss: 

This Indenture, made the eighteenth day of 
December, in the year of our Lord 1852, between 
the Worshipful William S. Blackledge, Esq., 
Chairman and Presiding Justice of the Court of 
Pleas and Quarter Sessions of the county afore- 
said, of the one part, and Jacob Gooding, of the 
same county, of the other part, 



2m OUT OP TflK BRIARS 

Witnesseth, That the said Presiding Justice, 
in pursuance of an order of said Court, doth put, 
place and bind,, unto said Jacob Gooding, a free 
boy of color, an orphan, named Alexander ;H. 
Newton, aged 17 years i6th July, 1852, with -the 
said Jacob Gooding, to live after the manner of 
an apprentice and servant until he shall attain 
the age of 21 years. During which time the said 
apprentice his said Master shall faithfully serve, 
and his lawful commands gladly obey, and not 
absent himself from his Master's service without 
leave, but in all things as a good and faithful ser- 
vant shall behave. 

And the said Jacob Gooding doth covenant, 
jjromise and agree, with the said Presiding Jus- 
tice, that he will teach and instruct, or cause to 
be taught and instructed, the said apprentice the 
art and mystery of a bricklayer and mason, and 
constantly find and provide for the said appren- 
tice, during the term aforesaid, sufficient diet, 
washing, lodging and apparel fitting an appren- 
tice, and also all other things necessary both in 
sickness and in health, and at the expiration of 
said apprenticeship will pay to said apprentice 
six dollars and furnish him with a new suit of 
clothes and a new Bible. 



KE SOLUTIONS, KTC ■!*>» 



In witness whereof, the parties have hereunto 
set their hands and seals the day and year afore- 
said. 

J. GOODING. (Seal) 

WILLIAM BLACKLEDGE. (Seal) 
Signed, sealed and delivered 
in the presence of 

J. G. Stanly. 
State of North Carolina, 
County of Craven, 
ss: 

I hereby certify that the above is a true copy 
of the original filed in this office. 

Witness my hand and official seal this 226. day 
of August, 1878. 

S. W. CARPENTER, C. S. C, 

Per J. B. Willis, Deputy. 
(Seal Superior Court.) 



S< 



f-l nv ^ 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



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" 3 19v. 



